A Fateful Destiny
by Ghoul-Warrior
Summary: What if Sasuke and Naruto's last attack created a rift in the fabric of time and space? Now in the populace planet of Cocoon with an unknown destiny both shinobi's will try to carve out a new path and maybe find a new start. Will have a main pair of NarutoXLightning. Will have other pairings. Continuation of story is determined by public feedback. So don't forget to review! ON HOLD
1. Chapter 1 A New Beginning

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I own FFXIII. But I'll let you know when I do :)

**I would appreciate some nice comments about this one. Not that I'm against criticism just make it constructive. I wrote this story so far because, hey, I love writing and it keeps my mind busy. I also enjoy these two universes and I hope my passion for both of them show in this story. Also since this is my first story this chapter has been created to be used as more of a sample then anything else. But if I receive several reviews that ask for me to keep going from you guys then I will consider continuing the story. The story will be different(obviously) but I don't know how much I'll differ from the main storyline. Lastly, I truly want to keep writing this story and hope you guys enjoy as much as I have writing it.** **I'm done now so enjoy! ;)**

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**Chapter 1: A New Beginning**

There stood Sasuke Uchiha staring at the lifeless body that he had recently called best friend. The battle between the two shinobi's was intense, and even though Sasuke was presumed the winner, he could slowly feel his consciousness slipping away from him.

"_Damn it Naruto! How could you have ever gotten this strong in such a short time."_

Kneeling down from the sharp pain in his shoulder, Sasuke was now inches from Naruto's face. Looking straight on, he could see the peaceful look the young whiskered Jinchurikki had on his face. It was almost like he was grinning back at him while mocking him, laughing at him, and possibly... crying? Sasuke couldn't tell, nor did he feel like he had the strength too. A sudden break in the sky let loose a single beam of sunlight that shot down through the sky at the speed of light(No pun intended). The beam of light enveloped the two young shinobi's and cast a reflection off Sasuke's Hitai-ate back at the young Uchiha. Sasuke glanced back at the now scratched Leaf Headband that was lying next to Naruto.

"_I guess this officially makes me a rogue ninja." _Sasuke thought while his vision began to fade.

"Naruto, you are the only person I will consider as an equal." He began to to lose his voice and knew he only had a couple of moments before he would totally black out from utter exhaustion.

"You are still a dead last in my book however" Sasuke whispered before collapsing onto the ground next to Naruto.

Before he collapsed he thought he saw a slight grin forming around Naruto's face, but thought nothing of it since he believed that Naruto was truly dead.

Little did he notice that his surroundings had changed during his battle with Naruto. After the final attack coming from Sasuke's **Chidori **and Naruto's **Rasengan **the pair of shinobi's had inadvertently caused a rift in the fabric of space. Because the attacks were so powerful it sent both Naruto and Sasuke to another world which neither of them would be prepared for.

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_**Unknown Time**_

Sasuke was the first one to wake up and was surprised to see Naruto laying down beside him. But then just looking at Naruto suddenly brought back a flood full of memories to the young Uchiha. He remembered that he had fought Naruto and won. Grinning slightly Sasuke looked back up into the sky and remembered what his brother had said to him_**,"When you have enough hatred come look for me.**_ _**When you have these eyes then you can fight me. But, these eyes are special and require a...sacrifice," **__**Itachi Uchiha then gave his brother a glare that demanded all of the young Sasuke's attention,"you must kill your best friend!" **_

The memory, the pain, the suffering that Itachi had caused to him made himself clench his fist in utter fury.

"_That man stole everything from me. No, even worse he stole my life, no even worse than that he stole my soul!" _Sasuke screamed in his head. But now that he had the Magenkyou Sharingan he could finally defeat his brother and claim his rightful title as an avenger!

A sound of a bird brought Sasuke out of his brooding and made him realize his surroundings. He was not by waterfall or forest. Instead he seemed to be surrounded by towering buildings, that he could only guess, reached to the heavens. Deciding that he should use his newly acquired powers, he activated his Sharingan by focusing his Chakra into his eyes. His eyes soon turned red with three tomoe around his central pupil

"_What? How can this be? I killed my best friend!" _Sasuke was now second guessing his actions until he heard a very faint, but to him thunderous, groan coming from behind him.

"Ow, why does it feel like Lady Tsunade punched me in the gut again? Naruto groaned loudly unaware of the shaking figure in front of him. Rubbing his belly, Naruto began to stand up and brush away the dirt that had accumulated onto him while he was unconscious. Suddenly aware of Sasuke's presence because of the Uchiha's teeth grinding, in frustration of Naruto being alive, took a cautious step towards him.

"Naruto. Where are we?" Trying to hide his emotions with his patented monotone.

Naruto realizing the same thing that Sasuke had noticed before moments ago was now also dumbfounded.

"I...I don't know Sasuke," Naruto replied before glaring back at him," but I do remember you trying to kill me you teme!"

Ignoring Naruto's sudden outburst of anger towards him Sasuke began to walk around the park, well what he assumed was a park, and began looking over his surroundings.

Naruto having nothing else to do followed in step with Sasuke's. The two shinobi's had wandered around for what seemed like a couple of hours into they came to what looked like an information center. Casually walking over to it, Sasuke picked up a pamphlet and began reading over it. Naruto,gazing at his reading, saw a wide range of emotions run past the Uchiha's face.

Worried that something could cause his best friend that many emotions in such a short amount of time spoke up,"Uh what is it Sasuke? Are we lost?" Sasuke just shook his head slowly at him before resuming his reading. "Well where the hell are we then since this doesn't look like the Fire Country at all!" Naruto yelled getting irritated from his friend's lack of communication.

Sighing slowly Sasuke looked Naruto in the eyes and said,"Your right for once loser. We're not in the Fire Country, and since you suck at reading I guess I'll have to explain it to you as simple as possible." Naruto began pouting about how he wasn't trying at the Academy and how he would've embarrassed him if he actually tried.

"Shut up and listen dobe because I am not repeating myself again you hear?" Naruto, grumbling, nodded his head in understanding even though he wished his friend could have used nicer words to get his attention. "We seem to have been transported into another universe. Our final attack must have disrupted the space time continuum." Noticing Naruto was tilting his head to the side in confusion, Sasuke sighed in frustration and continued," In dobe terms our attacks created a magical portal that sent us here to another world that is unlike our world. From what I have read this planet is called Cocoon and the city we're in is called Bodhum.

Silence was heard between the two friends after that last statement. Naruto was now having a major headache from the sudden turn of events. How could this all happen to him and why of all people that he could have been with had it had to be Sasugay! He was always talking down to him and when he wasn't he always had to show off in front of everybody, especially to him! At least with Sakura she was pretty enough to look at and wasn't such a bad person herself when she wasn't always around Sasuke. Keyword being always.

"Hey, Naruto why don't we go to the library and look up more information on what we're dealing with here." Sasuke asked bringing Naruto out of his stupor.

"Okay, lead the way Sasugay. At least now your eyes will be useful for something other then killing your friends!" Naruto replied with a mocking tone.

A tick mark appeared on Sasuke's forehead but he ignored Naruto and indeed led the way. After what felt like even more grueling hours of getting lost and sidetracking the pair finally came to a building that resembled a library. Going in they couldn't help but gasp at the interior of the library. There thousands upon thousands of bookshelf's littered around the library. They were even more shocked when they realized that there were several hundred more rooms just like theirs.

"Hn... I'll have a look around and find any books containing any material that might help us." Sasuke said before leaving to another room.

"Wait Sasuke!" Naruto cried figuring out too late how easily the pair could get lost in such a large building.

"Hey! The weirdo in the orange jumpsuit shut the hell up!" A feminine voice cried out to the whiskered Jinchurikki.

Looking towards the receptionist desk Naruto could only see a pink haired figure covered behind a computer. Embarrassed that he was just called out for being loud in a library he shrunk his head beneath his jumpsuit until a realization hit him as hard as his embarrassment. Mad at the attack on his clothing fashion he stomped up to the receptionist desk and began to yell at the girl behind it.

"Now wait just a mome-" Naruto couldn't finish his sentence when he saw the girl up close. She looked to be around 12 years old and had very striking features. She had aqua-colored eyes that seemed to pierce through his soul. Her face seemed to be flawless with no imperfections that he could see. He also saw a lightning shaped pendant hanging from the girls neck and the exposed skin it was rubbing against. Unconsciously his cerulean eyes began to drift further down the girls neck onto her chest-

"What the hell do you think your doing pervert?" Both of them blushing from the awkward scene Naruto had created for both of them.

"Sorry sorry sorry! I didn't mean to. I was just looking at your face and then I saw your necklace and then-" Naruto shut up quickly because he knew he was pretty much digging his own grave and making it even worse.

Well he was wrong about the dying part. But he was right about making things worse. BAM! Naruto's entire body flew back 50 ft. all the way back to the entrance and landed with a bone cracking thud!

"Shut up pervert! You do that crap again and it will be more than just your bones breaking." She glared at Naruto with certain death written all over her face. Naruto gulped and hurried out of the room to avoid any more painful accidents. While he left the girl began to relax after he left the room and a slight pink showed up onto her cheeks.

"_Although he was kinda cute for a perve- no Lightning you don't have time for boy's! Your main focus is on making money and supporting Serah. _Sighing softly to herself she reminded herself of the hardship she and her sister had been going through the last 4 years since their parents had died. Lighting was working her ass off to support both she and Serah. Even then they barely had enough to live with. Shaking her head she went back to work hoping to forget about the recent embarrassing moment she had just had with a whiskered boy.

Sasuke had finally found 2 books that he thought had information that could help them understand the world they were in. Just then he heard books falling onto the floor and several gasps coming from the few people who were in the room. _"Naruto, what the heck did you do now?" _And as if on cue, our orange whiskered jumpsuit hero exploded out of a pile of books and blindly ran into Sasuke.

"Oh thank god teme I found you! I just met the devil and she has pink hair!" Naruto said in panic.

"Get off of me you dobe!" Sasuke cried out from the suffocating grasp the young Uzumaki had on him. After getting back up and dusting his clothes off Sasuke glared at Naruto expecting an answer. But the only answer Sasuke got was Naruto hastily looking around as if his life depended on it.

"_Wait, the only time I've ever seen him like this is when Sakura is pissed of at him."_ Then a light bulb went off in his head. Naruto pissed off another fan girl again._ "When will he learn that fan girls are nothing but mindless sex machines."_ Sasuke shivered at the memory of hordes of fan girls engulfing him into painful and mindless shows of affection.

"Naruto, I've found some books that might help us get back to Konoha, so will you stop your paranoia and help me read them dobe?"

Naruto stiffened at the word Konoha and turned his head back to Sasuke so fast he thought his head was going to rip off. "So you found a way home Sasuke?" Naruto was now practically jumping up and down from pure and utter excitement at possibly going home.

"No, listen I said might not will." Naruto quickly deflated at his statement. "_It's incredible how fast he can switch moods so fast. But then again he's not the number one most unpredictable ninja for nothing." _Sasuke thought until he remembered why they were in the library in the first place. "Lets go find a table and start reading this stuff before it gets too late." Naruto just nodded his head as he followed Sasuke to a nearby table.

Both shinobi's were at the library pouring over their new source material. They were so focused that they didn't notice the sunlight fading beneath the horizon until a voice snapped them out of their deep research.

"Hey boys it's nearly ten and the library will be closing soon, so I suggest you leave since I don't feel like doing overtime for nothing."

"I'm sorry lady but can you give me and my friend a couple of mor-" Naruto exploded out of his chair and quickly raced behind Sasuke using him as a human shield. "Teme that's the girl! That's the devil in disguise!" Sasuke only squinted his eyes toward the girl and then shrugged and began reading the book in front of him again, completely ignoring the pink beauty. She was very pretty but to him she was nothing special other than a regular hopeless fan girl.

"Did you not hear me duck ass? Get the hell out of my library before I kick both your asses and your hair!" She slammed her palms into the table mere inches from Sasuke's face. But a certain blond hair only heard the remark about his friends hair and began rolling on the ground in hysterical laughter.

"Oh my god his hair does look like a duck's ass. Hahahahahahaha!" Naruto couldn't stop laughing. The fact his hair looked like one made the joke impossible not to laugh at he thought.

"I..i... it does not not!" Sasuke screamed while turning slightly red from the embarrassing comment. "_Oh Naruto I will definitely kill you now. As for the girl-"_ Sasuke glared at her with such hatred that it might have rivaled his hatred with Itachi's.

"Tch whatever just get the hell out of here." She walked away while leaving one boy crying from extreme laughter and one boy shrouded in deep malice.

"Haha okay teme lets go before she comes back and really hurts us." Naruto got up and began walking towards the exit of the library. Sasuke engulfed in anger slowly followed after Naruto. It took a while for the boy's to recognize the situation they were in and by then the boys were tired and hungry from the day's long adventure. They crept into an alley and decided that it was better to sleep under a roof and somewhat hospitable conditions compared to anywhere else they would might have picked. They then hear a loud shriek and Naruto being filled with bundles of energy and good morale's decided to run toward the direction of the sound. Sasuke really hoping that Naruto would use his selfish side for once just grumbled and followed.

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When they both got to a clearing they saw a young girl being mugged by a massive man. He was trying to steal her purse while the girl was kicking and screaming in desperation. Naruto wasted no time and charged the man from the behind. Now usually a 12 year old boy would stand no chance against a fully grown man who was just massive compared to his average male counterparts. But this 12 year old boy was different compared to the rest of the boys in his age group. First off, he was very well built and strong from all the ninja training that he received. Secondly, he was a freaking ninja! And lastly, and most importantly, he was Naruto Uzumaki and he took crap from no one. Especially a crappy man trying to harm an innocent girl no less. With one leg kick to the man's head he was knocked to the ground unconscious and missing several number of teeth in the process. Sasuke could only grin at the scene because he was proud of Naruto for both his efficiency and thoughtfulness he showed. Sasuke couldn't help but feel a slight twinge in his stomach for not wanting to come but rubbed it away.

"Are you ok M'Lady?" Naruto was showing his foxy grin in front of the young girl who now started to blush from the unexpected formalities.

"Yea...yeah thanks to you mister." She replied stuttering.

Just then a flash of pink hair flew by the young girl and went straight for the blond haired shinobi.

"_Ah crap it's her agai-"_ Naruto's thoughts were shattered by a solid fist smashing into his face. Naruto keeled over grasping his face in agony while Sasuke sweat dropped.

"_I'm sure glad crazy women don't punch me." _Sasuke thought to himself.

"Serah are you okay? Did this man hurt you?" The pink haired beauty asked the younger girl.

Serah just simply pointed to, what she thought to be, a random direction. The pink haired girl look towards where she was pointing and saw a large man lying on the ground clutching her purse.

"Oh so that guy.." Serah nodded slowly.

"And then the guy I... Serah nodded again.

"So then I..." Serah nodded in acknowledgment.

"Tch minor misunderstanding that's all." She said to Serah_,"All though he did deserve it for earlier." _She smiled to herself while looking at the knocked out boy. "Besides he'll be okay once he wakes up. The fact that your safe and sound is all that matters sister.

"_So this crazy bitch does have a heart after all." _Sasuke thought to himself before stepping out of the shadow. "So now that my friend here saved your sister's life don't you think you should at least help him since you just slugged him to kami.

Lightning just shrugged,"Find your own road to hell. I could care less if both of you got hurt." It was lie but she needed to keep her stoic attitude up for her sister's sake. Also she was starting to respect to blonde idiot a little more for protecting her sister.

"But Lightning he saved my life! Most importantly he saved you future heartache if I had gotten hurt." Serah pouted to her sister.

"_Sigh, indeed he did._ _I already know how this is going to end." _Lightning closed her eyes and crossed her arms awaiting for the inevitable.

"We can't just leave them here on the streets, they could get hurt or even worse die!" Serah then used her signature puppy dog eyes and got real close to her sister's face so she couldn't avoid them.

Putting up an act like her technique worked she sighed and said,"Fine but I'm not carrying that brat home. You, emo boy, carry him or else get left behind." As she turned around glimpsing Sasuke's steaming face. Reluctantly, Sasuke went over and slung his fallen comrade onto his back who had been knocked out from "friendly fire". Well not really but Sasuke overlooked that part. The two girls led the boys to a dull looking house with bits of it coming off from several places.

"This wreck is your home?" Sasuke said in shock at seeing a house he assumed would just collapse from just looking at it.

"Don't like it then go back home you inconsiderate prick!" Lightning humphed in annoyance.

"We don't have a home." Sasuke replied slowly.

"Then go back to your parents kid."

"My parents are dead..." A awkward silence froze the two girls in sudden pity. They too had lost their parents 4 years ago and were uncomfortable talking about it also.

"Uh what about him?" Serah asked pointing to a hanging Naruto.

"Never knew his to begin with." Sasuke's eyes glanced to the ground after saying such an emotional statement.

Not wanting to make the situation even more depressing Lightning motioned everyone into the house and closed the door. Once inside Sasuke was able to get a good look inside the house. Too be honest the inside was a lot better then the outside of the house. It was still a little cramped but for the two people living it sufficed. But he couldn't help but get a little nauseous when he saw that most of the things in the house were colored a bright pink.

"_Why is it always the pink haired girls who are the craziest?"_Sasuke began to walk towards a nearby couch until an abrupt cough stopped him in his tracks.

"Uh what do you think you are doing? Lightning asked with emotionless face.

"I was gonna put my friend down on the couch, what else would I be doing?" Sasuke was now getting annoyed by this girls stubbornness that he thought she was just trying to make his life as much as a living hell as possible.

"No, that couch is clean and both of you brats are filthy." Lightning said while waving her hand in front of her nose in disgust. "Just go down stairs and make yourselves at home. Me and Serah are going to bed since we've worked all day and are now tired." Lightning gave a small shove to Serah towards the upstairs hinting her to go up there with no arguments. She quickly hugged her sister and waved goodnight to the boys. Sasuke simply nodded in acknowledgment not feeling like waving back to her. But surprisingly when she went near Naruto she stopped abruptly, turned towards the hanging figure, lifted up his head by pointing his chin up, and then did the most unexpected thing. She gave a quick kiss on the boy's forehead, blushing a little while doing it, turned away, and ran upstairs quicker then she had before. Lightning stood there stunned at what her sister had just done. Blushing a little, Lightning began feeling some alien emotions.

_What is this feeling I'm getting? It's such a warm and comfortable feeling. And then there's another. It's making my hands clench up and my head think terrible, painful things I should do to my sister." _She pondered upon her new emotions while Sasuke stared at Lightining in curiosity then shrugged and began walking downstairs. The slamming of the downstairs door woke her up from her daze and she began following Serah's lead to go to bed, and going upstairs muttering that it was because of exhaustion that made her feel those new found emotions.

Sasuke could only look upon in horror at the sight in front of him. There in front of him was a single futon in the middle of the room with solid cement covering the flooring. He was absolutely not sharing a bed with Naruto. Even though they did kis- Sasuke quickly shook his head at the thought like his hair was on fire. Looking at Naruto then back at the futon and then back to Naruto again. Sighing, Sasuke took off his blue, short-sleeved shirt and bundled it into a ball. He then took Naruto's orange jumpsuit off much to the young Uchiha's discomfort. He placed his short-sleeved shirt that was now a ball onto the ground using it for a pillow next to a nearby wall. He then laid the orange jumpsuit down next to it to act like a poorly made mattress which he knew in essence that it practically was a poor excuse for one. Finally, he placed his best friend onto the jumpsuit and made sure that his head was resting on the short-sleeved shirt. After he did all that he collapsed onto the futon and immediately began to feel the familiar feeling of sleep pulling at his consciousness. He ran through the whole days events in his head while slowly closing his eyes. He knew there was many more questions that needed to be answered, but for now he would just forget about it and sleep. He then glanced at Naruto who was at the opposite side of the room snoring quite obnoxiously. It was apparent he was uncomfortable from the cold, hard flooring but he still seemed to find a way to fall asleep.

"_Hn, better the dobe then me." _He thought before giving a genuine smile that displayed both happiness and security_,"even after all we've been through he's still the same loudmouthed loser. But still got to hand it to him to persuade a devil like Lightning into letting us sleep over especially considering the condition of this home._" Sasuke then quickly glanced up and scanned the room for any signs of deterioration. Satisfied but not comforted he rolled over onto his side and closed his eyes letting sleep take him. Although, every creak and groan noise quickly woke up the young Uchiha from his fruitful sleep. Sighing, he knew this was gonna be a long night.

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**Hope you enjoyed the story. The story only gets better. Remember to review and voice your opinions. I will read them just so you know your voice is being heard. Until next time ciao!**


	2. Chapter 2 A Heroines Dream

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I own FFXIII. But I'll let you know when I do :)

**AN: Okay from what I've read and saw I have agreed to upload a new chapter. Now I will be making minor tweaks to my characters. Some more than others. If I don't change one a whole lot its probably because I feel comfortable with their current personality. Another thing, this story will be totally different and unique that you will notice the differences right away. Its because I want to make this story unique and original. Lastly, this chapter is more of a serious toned filler then the last chapter, but I feel it was necessary to sustain the longevity of the story and to help create more connection with the two main characters. Again, I hope you like this chapter so enjoy! ;) **

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**Chapter 2 : A Heroines Dream**

_**The two shinobi's stood facing one another. One of the shinobi's was wearing an orange jumpsuit with an orange swirl on the back of it, and had well defined whiskers on his face. The other one was wearing a **__**blue, short-sleeved shirt with a high collar and the Uchiha crest on the back. The most prominent feature about the boy was his eyes which were red with three tomoe around his central pupil. The boy was smirking at his opponent in front of him, while the other boy looked distraught.**_

"_**Sasuke, why won't you listen to reason? Don't you understand what your doing?" The blonde haired boy cried out. But the other boy just kept staring intently back at him with his eyes never blinking. No, these eyes could see everything now, and they were showing him that the boy in front of him was far inferior to himself. **_

_**Still smirking he replied with a calm voice,"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to get stronger and Orchimaru is going to help me attain that power. No matter what it takes I will kill my brother, even if it means selling my soul to him in order to do so." The blonde haired shinobi took a slight step back from the seriousness of his friends tone. **_

"_**What then all of what we've done so far together has been for nothing? Or has it just been used for acquiring power for your revenge?" He glared back at the calm figure in front of him."I promised both myself and Sakura that I would bring you back no matter what, even if it meant breaking every bone in your stubborn body!" Barely containing his emotions from just pouring out, he pointed to the figure with demanding confidence,"These bond's we have are worth more then your stupid revenge, and I'll prove it to you, even if I have to knock the reason into your skull!**_

"_**Then I'll have to sever whatever bond's we may have and get stronger in the process, but enough talk, we fight now!" He got into a fighting stance and awaited his opponents next move. **_

_**Shaking his head in annoyance at the young Uchiha's stubbornness, he began to stride in a zigzag pattern towards him and raised his fist preparing to make contact with the Uchiha's face. The last thing the blonde kid saw before attacking was a tear forming in the flawless red eyes of the young boy's pupil.**_

"Sasuke!" Naruto sprang up from his resting position. Naruto was sweating profusely and was shaking uncontrollably from the vivid memory. He couldn't see anything since it was pitch black, but when he looked around a bit he noticed a shadowy figure sleeping across the room from him. It was only because of the duck ass shaped hair that Naruto figured out that it was Sasuke's sleeping form. Sighing softly, Naruto began taking in his surroundings. He then felt a warm, soft material pressed against his body. Looking down he noticed that it was a blue colored blanket with an abnormally large yellow bird pictured in it. He then looked at where he was sleeping and saw the balled up t-shirt of the Uchiha's and his orange jumpsuit sprawled beneath him. Naruto couldn't help but smile a bit at his friends caring act but was short lived when he remembered the nightmare. _"The person I was fighting was not the Sasuke I knew. This person was the pure form of Sasuke's hate and anger, but it was not Sasuke. The Sasuke I know is a cocky, spoiled brat, and not some avenger hell bent on destroying everything in his path just to kill one person. No, he's smarter than that. But most importantly he's my friend!" _Naruto moved his hand across his chest clutching the area of his chest where his heart lay beneath. _"I will save you from yourself Sasuke! With this new world, and possibly, a new beginning there's no way I can possibly fail this mission!" _Putting down his clutching arm that was beginning to rip at his white t-shirt, Naruto looked back slowly at Sasuke. Sasuke rolled over to his other side mumbling something in his sleep about damn fan girls. Giggling a little at the boy's unusual sleeping behavior, Naruto decided to go upstairs and look for something to eat since he knew now that it was hopeless for him try to go back to sleep. His stomach suddenly growled in agreement as he began walking up the stairwell.

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Naruto was walking very clumsily from both grogginess, and loss of direction, since it was still dark, and he was in a house that he never been in before last his heightened senses from the fox's power he could roughly pick up the smell of Chocolate hanging in the air coming from the North direction. He followed the aroma into a small kitchen while trying diligently to avoid any obstacles that crossed his path. When he walked into the kitchen he was surprised at the sight before him. There was Lightning in her night clothes eating into a Chocolate Cake. She was eating very cleanly as Naruto could tell since she would occasionally grab for the napkin. However, he could hear from the way she was gouging into the cake, that eating properly was the last thing on her mind. Wondering if he should leave or face the wrath of the pink haired devil he accidentally tripped over a leg of a chair while slowly creeping away subconsciously.

"Damn it!" Naruto cried in both pain and embarrassment from falling and hitting his head on the floor. Rubbing his head thoughtfully, he quickly froze when he felt a massive wave of killer intent coming from in front of him. Slowly raising his head up to look at whatever it was that could be so evil. His eyes soon locked on to some beautiful, aqua-colored eyes. But these eyes were now conveying utter resent at the young boy's direction. Gulping a little, Naruto was all too familiar with this scene and closed his eyes to await for his excruciating pain. But when none came, he opened his eyes slowly and saw Lightning motioning him towards a pulled out chair facing him. Slowly, but cautiously, he got up and began tip-toeing towards the chair. A loud cough coming from Lightning displaying her impatience quickly made Naruto jump up a little and hurry his steps so that it took less then 5 steps for him to make it to his destination, all while under Lightning's hard glare.

"Explain yourself now." She glared intently at the blond.

"Wel...well you see I couldn't sleep because I was so hungry, so I thought maybe I could find something to eat in the kitchen and that's when I saw you..." Naruto's voiced trailed off.

"Saw me what?" Tapping her feet in annoyance.

Knowing that any answer that he gave would most likely have him ending up hurt, and beaten up badly, he decided to go with the lesser of two evil's, and have a little fun in the process.

"Well I pretty much caught you stuffing cake into your mouth like a fat pig." There was absolute silence once Naruto spoke those last words. Lightning, sustaining an emotionless face, slowly pulled open a drawer and flung a sharp, shiny object at the boy with deadly speeds. Out of pure instinct, Naruto quickly dove off his chair, avoiding the knife, and flopped onto the hard, wooden floor face first.

"What the hell was that for?" Naruto yelled out while rubbing his chin from hitting the hard floor.

Ignoring his question, Lightning asked, "Tell me who the hell are you guys?" while crossing her arms and leaning back into her chair crossed legged.

But Naruto couldn't tell her the truth, not yet anyways. Besides, she would probably never believe it in the first place. So he just simply stared back at the young girl and gave her silence as his response.

When she was answered with silence she glanced to the side of the table at a portrait of her sister Serah. Sighing a little, she asked now a little more friendlier,"Okay, at least tell me the name of the person who saved my sister."_"That will also be the last time I fail to protect my sister from anything else." _Lightning thought in her head.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto replied plainly.

"And your emo friend's name?"

"The teme's name is Sasuke Uchiha." Again in the same tone. Naruto began to have a slight feeling about where this conversation was leading to but he thought nothing of it.

"Where did you come from?" She asked getting impatient at the boy's reluctance to divulge anything meaningful.

"It doesn't matter where we came from. We're here right now and that's all that is important right now."

"Then tell me at least a little about your outfit. I've noticed your headband has unique symbol on it." Lightning asked while leaning on her crossed arms that were now resting on the table.

Scratching his whiskers slightly in thought, Naruto decided it wouldn't do any harm in revealing a little information about he and Sasuke.

"From where I'm from this symbol on my headband symbolizes a leaf, which represents my home, which is the Hidden Leaf Village." he answered while tracing his thumb across the leaf symbol. "This headband also totally means that I'm a citizen of my village!" Thinking that calling himself a citizen rather than a ninja would be less conspicuous.

"Hmph. Your lying." Lightning snorted in skepticism. "There is no Hidden Leaf Village that I am aware of because if there was I would know about it. Is that the type of person you are Naruto Uzumaki? A lying little brat?"

Clenching his fist at being accused a liar, Naruto gave his most serious look at Lightning. This sudden look of seriousness caught the young pink haired girl off guard a bit.

"I don't care if you believe me or not." Naruto slowly put his head down so that Lightning couldn't read his face. "I don't care if you call me names or hell even hit me! But no one, and I mean no one, calls me a liar!" Naruto shot his head up after that last statement with fierce determination in his eyes. "And one of these days, I will be Hokage!" He cried out not noticing his slip up. Lightning was now completely dumbfounded by the brats unexpected outburst. She swore she could see a glimpse of fiery passion burning in those sharp cerulean eyes. She quickly recovered however, and brought back her mask onto her face again.

"So what? Is that your worthless dream you just told me I'm guessing?" Smirking a little from one corner of her lips. _"Didn't this boy know that dreams were just that, dreams?" _Lightning asked herself while watching the young blond boy stir up in intense anger.

"What did you say lady?" Naruto was now struggling to keep himself in control of his emotions, and his voice ended up sounding brittle.

"Knowing you for such a short amount of time you'll probably be dead before you even hit puberty, and have a chance at that pointless dream anyways. Heck, I bet being called Hokage is similar to something along the lines of being called trash-" In a flurry of orange and yellow colored streaks, a young boy was now standing dangerously close to the pink haired girl, closed fist inches away from her face.

"Your not even worth my time, you mind as well not even be alive if that's what you believe in. Your humanity is gone if you keep living without a dream." He closed his eyes while lowering his fist slowly, and turning his back to her to hide his now forming tears from her.

Lightning stood there completely trapped by an enormous wave of emotions now rushing through her body. She was utterly numb and completely paralyzed by the blond boy's words. Never was she spoken to like that. His words stabbed through her heart like a sharp spear. Lightning let her head fall onto her chest and began to recollect her thoughts. _"Am I just that, a lifeless corpse carrying the act of living? Is this what Serah sees in me everyday I'm with her? Serah..."_ Lightning glanced up to the now leaving figure.

"Your...your wrong." She took a step towards the now listening figure in front of her. "I do have a dream, and that is to make my sister the happiest person on Cocoon!" She cried out letting a tear drop down her now flushed cheeks from the extreme emotions of her confession that she was conveying. Her hands were now shaking uncontrolably and her feet twitched in uncomfortability. Grasping her lightning bolt pendent for comfort, she slowly lifted her head up to look at the young boys reaction.

"Finally, I was truly starting to get worried that you had truly lost yourself." Lightning wide eyed at the boy's accurate accusation of herself. Ever since their parents had died, she had taken the full responsibility of raising her younger sister Serah. She had decided to give up her childhood long ago and let herself be consumed in despair and pain. She had to be strong for her sister. No, there was more to it then that. She needed to be strong for herself in order to be able to take care of sister. She was willing to give her life up to protect what she believed was precious to her, and that was Serah.

"Ho..how did you kn-"

"Know?" Naruto finished her sentence. "You may not know this but I too know that pain. I even know someone else who would give up his life, his soul, and be consumed in hate and despair in order to achieve his dream." quietly hinting at Sasuke. "But did it ever cross your mind that maybe your sister's dream is for you to be happy for once?

He struck a very personal nerve when he said that to her. She couldn't deny the logic behind his words. All her life she had been too focused on protecting her sister she completely ignored herself. She never thought about it hard until he brought it up.

"_This boy..."_ She couldn't distinguish how she felt about him. Was she mad, happy, or maybe... thankful? She didn't know. But she did know that her life was changing in front of her eyes. The young blond haired boy was strong, maybe not physically, but there was something about him that made her want to believe him. Maybe she should be less cold to the people around her and be a little more... open, exposed, and possibly... caring? Well she knew she wasn't a total stone cold person. Her previous action was proof of that.

_**Flashback**_

_**There she was staring at the blond hair boy sleeping uncomfortably on the ground. His chest heaving up and down, massive droplets of sweat forming on his face, and his breathing staggered told her that he was having a nightmare and that he was in pain. The pain she could understand because it was she that caused it. The nightmare worried her though. This boy in front of her was the probably the most hyperactive, impulsive, happiest, idiot that she had ever met. If he was having a nightmare then something was seriously wrong. She went downstairs to check on the two boys to make sure they were not up to anything funny. She let them stay but that didn't mean she trusted them, far from it. Lightning then heard a shudder coming from the restless boy, who she was observing with curious thoughts. She knew her incomplete basement could get very cold, but ignored bothering to give the two boys any warm clothes or blankets. But when she saw the innocent blond whiskered hair boy tossing and turning from all the discomfort, her heart felt a sharp, slight pain of sympathy for him. Unable to resist her guilt, she went upstairs to fetch a blanket for him. She could care less about the other boy because he both pissed her off, and had far better sleeping conditions with the futon then his fellow friend. She couldn't understand why they were even considered best friends in the first place. They were polar opposites to one another, and yet, they were able to attract, and become friends. "Small world." Lightning thought out loud. When she returned back downstairs, she overheard some words that were mumbled out from Naruto which surprised her. "Lightning who are you?" She never remembered actually telling the blonde hair boy her name. He must have been somewhat conscious when her sister cried out her name after slugging him. "Yeah, who am I?" Lightning thought to herself silently. Lightning wasn't her real name, and the only reason she adopted it was because lightning was fast, and powerful. But importantly it let her shine bright, even if it was for a short amount of time. She needed to be bright, to repel the darkness, in order to protect her most important piece of herself. Without her sister, she would have given up living a long time ago. Although, her sister would occasionally call her by her real name, she felt no attachment to it. To her it was a weak name and she couldn't afford to be weak for her family's sake. "But maybe someday my name will have meaning, possibly a stronger ideal then Lightning." Until she found that reason, that hope, she would never be able to live with her real name tied to her. Being interrupted in her thoughts by a snoring Naruto, she gently placed her sister's old blanket on top of the young boy. Almost immediately his sleeping went back to normal and a slight grin formed on the blond teen. She couldn't help but think about how his face eerily resembled a fox's, with his whiskers and foxy grin. Her stomach groaned loudly breaking the silence that was in the room. Turning slightly red from possible embarrassment from the 2 boys hearing it, she raced back upstairs towards the kitchen to enjoy her favorite cake in peace.**_

_**End of Flashback**_

She knew that she didn't need to answer that question right now. Now she needed to say the two hardest words that she had ever said to someone other than her sister.

"Naruto... Thank you." Lightning whispered so quietly a normal human being would've never heard it.

Naruto barely hearing it, eyes widened in shock at what he had just heard from the pink haired girl. "Wha...what did you say?" he asked in disbelief.

"No-nothing. It wasn't important." Lightning quickly looked away towards a wall that she suddenly stared at like it was the most incredible thing she would ever see.

"Well I guess your welcome. But it was my duty to help anyways. I couldn't watch an innocent person get hurt and not do anything about it." Naruto replied gazing softly at Lightning's perfect face.

Lightning turned her head around and couldn't help but notice the cute whiskers on the boy's face. Shaking her thoughts of it out, she looked Naruto in the eyes and was back to being Lightning. "So now what are you going to do?"

Getting hit with such a blunt question, Naruto just sat there dazed for a couple of moments before speaking up,"Well we don't exactly know what we wanna do or even what we can do at this moment. I guess you could say we're lost on the road of life." Naruto grinned a little from his sensei's lame excuse. Lightning frowned at the answer but couldn't help but think that Naruto was a little off. Nonetheless, she needed to do something about these boys as quickly as possible before things got more complicated.

"The road of life eh? That's funny, wanna know what else I find funny? Being killed by a person whose name you don't know, wouldn't you agree Naruto?" she said with heavy emphasis on his name.

*Gulp* "yeah, totally, whatever you say lady.

"Tch my name is Lightning." She stated.

"Oh, that's a nice name." Naruto sweat dropped from the unusual name.

"Well I've noticed that Serah has a certain liking to you boys, especially you." Lightning stated emotionless.

Naruto's head turned slightly, in confusion, at the emphasis of him being the center of attention from the younger girl's sudden interest in him.

'However I don't like either of you very much, but at this point in time my opinions of you mean little compared to my sister's who, like it or not, usually always gets what she wants. And what she wants right now is you both." Lightning cringed at the thought of two snot nosed boys living with she and her sister. "I'm regretting this already, but since you boys don't seem to have a home, and Serah would be forever mad at me if I kicked you guys out, I am offering if you boys would want to live with us." Lightning couldn't believe what she was asking. But this was all for the well being of her sister and she was the only thing preventing her from kicking the two boys straight out of the house, and into the large trash bins located several yards away from the house outside.

Before Naruto could explode in joy and happiness she cut him off. "But you won't be living here doing nothing. I expect you guys to lift your share of the work in maintaining this household, by getting a job in two days or less. If you fail to do so don't even think about returning to this house. Not even the innocence of my sister could persuade me to let you guys back in. Do we understand one another?" Lightning narrowed her eyes menacingly at the young boy.

Seeing the boy nodding his head rapidly in understanding, she stood up from the table and began to walk out of the kitchen before halting in between the doorway. "And don't even think about getting a job at the library. If you do, I will lose my job, and it will not be because I quit. No, it will be because they found a bloody corpse with whiskers on top of my desk with several knives protruding from all its major organs." Lightning then began to casually walk out as Naruto turned a deathly pale at the not so subtle death threat. Realizing that he had lost his appetite from the recent conversation he had with Lightning, he solemnly left the kitchen with wide ranging emotions. He decided that it would be best to go back downstairs and check up on Sasuke. He slowly trudged across the room until he made it to the stairwell. He knew he had to tell Sasuke about getting a job and living with them when he woke up, but he had more pressing issues that he needed to solve with Sasuke first before either of them moved on with their new life. Shivering slightly from the cool air, Naruto began to walk downstairs and check on Sasuke.

* * *

When he got downstairs he noticed something was off. The cement flooring was the same, however it was flooded slightly with murky water. Naruto began to look side to side and noticed that he was in a large area and that Sasuke had vanished. But what was really off about the scene was the large iron cage in front of him that was being closed by a paper note that simply read "Seal". _"I feel like I've been here before," _Naruto thought_,"this place gives me the chills_ _and the feeling of absolute dread." _Naruto quickly looked up when he spotted two large red orbs illuminating the dark cage. He then heard the familiar voice that was the cause of all his pain and suffering.

"**Come closer boy so that I may get a better look at you." **A dark voice commanded.

"You're not fooling me this time again fox! And they call foxes clever, ha!' Naruto pointed at the sudden appearance of the Nine-Tailed Fox.

"**I guess your not as thick headed as I thought your were,"** Earning the fox a painful glare from Naruto that he simply grinned towards,**"but I want to ask you, why haven't you used my powers yet? From what I've experienced through you, this world is weak compared to ours, and we could crush it oh so easily." **The fox chuckled a little at the thought of annihilating an entire planet.

"Ooh no I won't. And besides you're wrong about this planet. This place is not weak, it's you that is weak." Naruto retorted. The fox simply laughed at the accusation.

"**Oh and why would that be puny boy?" **The fox smirked showing his large, razor-sharp teeth.

"Because you lack human will you stupid fox!" Naruto crossed his arms while meeting his savage eyes.

"**Ha, and why the hell is human will stronger then pure hatred?" **The fox asked while breathing out a large fume of dark demonic Chakra.

"Hmph, look at what we "puny" humans did to you. We trapped your foxy sorry ass in my stomach!" The fox was taken aback by this clever rebuttal. And for once the fox was lost in words.

"Now if that's all you wanted to talk about I will take my leave." Naruto said while turning his back towards the Nine-Tail.

"**You will release me soon. Oh yes, there will be a time when you will be consumed by pure hatred and you will be begging for more power. That is when I will be released and in doing so shall grant you all my power!" **_"Of course his consciousness will also be consumed by me." _The fox thought sinisterly to himself.

"Whatever, I'll see you around fox." And then Naruto severed the connection with the fox. Naruto then became alarmed when he noticed Sasuke staring at him intently with an eyebrow raised, and his Sharingan fully activated.

"So that's what you have in you." Sasuke thought out loud to the suddenly frozen Jinchuuriki.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter and don't forget to review because the more there are, the more likely I'll write more chapters. I love your positive and, to a point, your negative suggestions. And I promise things will pick up soon and I will be soon introducing more characters into this story. Until next time ciao!**


	3. Chapter 3 Revelations

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I own FFXIII. But I'll let you know when I do :)

**Hey I'm back with a long overdue update. As I promised this chapter starts to pick the story up a little bit more then before. It's still a tidbit compared to what I have planned later on but this should more than satisfy. Also I've added several characters into the story and am interested on how I represented them in this story. Lastly, the poll is being used to only measure each characters interest they have to the public. But I already have a female choice for Sasuke. Your votes only reinforce my decision. One last thing, I have not gotten the interest I was hoping for this story originally. If you wish for this story to continue then voice your opinions in the reviews. So I know you waited for this update (Jeez tough crowd) and I hope you enjoy! ;)**

* * *

**Chapter 3 : Revelations**

"...Saru...Tori...Hitsuji... **Summoning Jutsu**!"

_**Poof! **_An orange colored toad appeared from the cloud of smoke.

"Eh, where the heck am I?" Thought the toad before noticing a figure standing in front of him.

"Uh hiya there Naruto! Long time no see!" Exclaimed the toad in excitement.

"Hey Gamakichi, how's it been going?" Naruto asked calmly.

"A lot actually! Speaking of which, most of the action involves looking for you! Man, you got almost the entire hidden leaf village looking for you!" the orange toad announced.

Smiling from the news Naruto abruptly went to serious mode, "I wish we could could chat and catch up on things but I need you to do something really important for me." Gamakichi raised an eyebrow from the sudden shift in attitude.

"Sure thing boss, what would you like me to do?" Naruto pulls out a scroll that he had spent all morning drafting and writing. He knew if this was going to be the last thing he communicates that it ought to be adequate.

"I want you to give this scroll to Obaa-Chan and Ero-Sennin and make sure no one else reads it before them. Got it?" Naruto pointed at the small toad who soon came to the realization of who Naruto was talking about.

"You got it! Erm if you don't mind me asking where are we?" the toad asked scanning the small, empty basement.

Grinning sadly at the innocent question, Naruto replied softly, "We're in my new home." Then made a quick hand sign and dispelled the now confused toad. _"But I will always have a home in the hidden leaf village." _Naruto reassured himself before turning away from where the toad had been sitting and climbing the stairwell and traveling towards the kitchen.

* * *

_**At the Hokage Tower**_

A stunningly beautiful blonde could be seen peering outside her office window at a vibrantly orange sun that was now setting. A lot had happened to her that day. She got the news that the mission for the retrieval of Sasuke was an utter failure and even worse, the boy she grew to treat like her grandchild suddenly disappears. No, not even an endless supply of Sake could get her to forget this major dilemma. Sneezing loudly she slowly turns her chair around towards the door to a shadowy figure who she already knows.

"What do you want Jiraiya, I don't have time for childish antics and as you can see I'm... sober." She said without looking up from her paper work.

"Now Lady Tsunade is that any way to greet a fellow comrade and longtime friend?" Jiraiya snickered. He was quickly answered back with a menacing glare from the hot-headed blonde. "Uh anyways formal greetings aside I know what's been bothering you, and it may not look like it but I too am effected by our little blonde haired baka's sudden disappearance." He says while his face slowly darkens at his own words. "What have you done since his disappearance then?"

Clenching her fist in anger, she replied while gritting her teeth, "I can't do anything. The stupid council thinks that searching for a lowly Genin who failed his simple mission isn't worth the manpower or time to be searched for." She quickly reached across her desk for a blue shaped ball that she then squeezes madly. "If it wasn't for this ball I think I would have killed someone by now." She said mostly to herself.

"Heh, no kidding." Jiraiya sweat-dropped at the now crushed ball. She only used those blue stress balls when she was really angry, he shivered at the thought of her crushing the stress ball from something stupid he did. Out of nowhere a sudden _**Poof! **_came and a cloud of smoke once again covered the room. Both Sannin, coughing at the unexpected disturbance, peered at the figure that soon appeared from the cloud of smoke.

"Gamakichi? What the hell are you doing here?" Lady Tsunade yelled while waving her hands in front of her face to try to clear the smoke that was dampening her vision.

"Sorry about the sudden appearance, but I have an urgent message from Naruto Uzumaki." In that instant both Sannin were in the face of the now nervous orange toad.

"Well spit it out you tailless amphibian!" Lady Tsunade was now mere centimeters from the toads face.

"Okay okay just give me some space alrighty?" Slowly backing away from the desperate pair. "Now, I made contact with Naruto at 9:00 A.M. This morning. From what I saw and heard from being with Naruto I can make a guess that Naruto is not remotely near the Fire Country." The older pair gasped at the unbelievable news and urged the toad to go on with his report. "Before you ask yes, he is perfectly fine and from the Nature Chakra that I could sense Sasuke is there with him as well." Nodding to himself at the reaction he had expected at the pair continued on," and he told me to give you this scroll that I assume will explain everything about his situation." Pulling out a scroll from what appeared to be out of thin air was quickly snatched by Lady Tsunade. Hastily, she pulled open the scroll and began reading the material out loud.

"_**Dear Obaa-Chan and Ero-Sennin, **_

_**Hi, it has been a while since I've last talked to you guys. I wish it was me talking to you in person rather than you having to read this scroll and using my voice to read it in your head's. Unfortunately, this is the best I could do. I'm guessing that you guys already know that I'm not in the Fire Country anymore. In fact I'm in a whole new world. The world is named Cocoon and I'm in a city called Bodhum. Knowing you guys, your probably worried about where I'm living. I'm fine and am in fact currently living with two beautiful pink haired girls. One is very sweet and caring, and the other one scares the living shit out of me. I mean damn if anyone could be the devil she would be it. Oh, the sweet heartwarming girl is named Serah and the devil is named Lightning. I mean denkou really? But beyond her hard, cold, evil exterior I think she truly is a nice, lonely girl who really desperately needs a friend to give her a lending hand with her baby sister, who she treasures beyond all else. And she is also kinda pretty I guess...-" **_she was quickly interrupted by the sound of giggling coming from the door to the Hokage's office.

"Hehe that boy sure knows how to pick em. I bet she's got some great curves and maybe even some nice pairs of brea-" Jiraiya soon found himself thrown out the window falling several stories down onto the bustling streets below. Leaning out the now broken window, Lady Tsunade yelled out in utter disgust, "In the name of Kami, can you for once in your little perverted life act like a real adult, especially during a serious moment like this!" To make sure that the perverted Sannin got her message loud and clear she casually picked up her desk and tossed it effortlessly down to the now wide eyed Jiraiya. It would later be documented in the medical reports that he suffered several minor contusions and plenty of broken bones to keep him in the hospital for months on end.

Glancing back at the scroll, that she was rudely interrupted in, went back to reading the scroll.

"Um I think I"ll take my leave now," Gamakichi quickly dispersed in fear of feeling Lady Tsunade's wrath as well. But she just waved nonchalantly at his leave too busy reading Naruto's scroll.

"_**But the most important news I have to tell you guys is that Sasuke is with me. A lot has happened between us and for the most part it seems that our friendship can be salvaged. He's still a teme but I expected nothing less from him. Now to the sad part I'm afraid. As of right now this is my goodbye letter and until we find a way of coming back home I'm sorry to say that this will be the last time we talk again. I want to thank you guys for everything you've done for me. Heck, even Ero-Sennin contributed from his busy schedule of**_ _**peeping (when will he learn?). I also want to thank all of my fellow Shinobi's for helping me get stronger and to let them know that I appreciate everything they've done for me. Especially Sakura... I have to go now before one of the girls find me writing this and start questioning me. Again, thank you for everything and I hope I'll see you guys soon. **_

_**Goodbye. Sincerely Naruto "Still going to be Hokage, believe it!" Uzumaki.**_

She could barely read the last words from the scroll because of the salty tears that were pouring down her wrinkle less face and burning her eyes. She closed the scroll and leaned back on her chair content to just staring at the ceiling above her. There were so many extreme emotions running through her body that she was absolutely paralyzed at the spot.

"_Screw the council and their conservative ideals." _She thought to herself. She quickly got up from her seating position and began to quickly walk towards the door already yelling before opening it. "Shizune! Get me Sakura Haruno and Kakashi Hatake in my office now!"

* * *

_**Back In Cocoon**_

Naruto entered the kitchen that was filled with activity. Serah was cooking what looked like to be breakfast and failing epically while Lightning was sitting cross legged reading a newspaper. Sasuke meanwhile was staring intently on the television that was hanging alone on top of the wall. He appeared to be entranced by it and Naruto devilishly grinned at a prank he could do to Sasuke. Sitting down on a chair beside Sasuke, Naruto jubilantly cried out to towards Serah, "Morning umm Serah was it?" Recalling the name Lightning had told him last night.

"Yup that's me!" She replied cheerfully to a wide eyed grinning Naruto. "And before I forget, thank you for rescuing me from that mugger yesterday, Hero!" winking towards Naruto who's cheeks started to turn red from the subtle name calling.

"Don't mention it and if anyone else tries to hurt you again they'll have to deal with me, believe it!" Naruto exclaimed while striking his signature pose.

"Tch like you would be any help considering that you got knocked out from a single punch no less." Lightning interrupted while rolling her eyebrows at the blonde haired antics.

"Aww come on! I wasn't ready for that punch anyways. Besides you don't punch like a regular human being." Unsure whether what Naruto just told her was a compliment or not, she settled on just glaring at him with her aqua-colored eyes. Naruto shivered at the pink-haired and decided to focus on what he was going to have for breakfast. "Hey Serah, what are you making for breakfast?" Naruto asked puzzled at the dish she was currently making. He couldn't recognize the food, but came to the conclusion that he would obviously not know the food since he came from another world.

"It's a surprise, in fact it's my best dish!" Naruto was somewhat comforted by that statement until Lightning interrupted once again without looking up from her reading.

"They won't like it Serah. No one will like it." Her blunt and brutal statement made Serah face-fault before she countered her sister's claim.

"Lightning, my cooking is not that bad! You just make everything seem worse then it actually is. I'm sure if the boys give it a try they'll find that it is quite delicious!" She replied with her eyes gleaming with confidence. Both boy's soon felt a wave of uneasiness rush through them when Serah handed both of them a plate full of her "best" cooking. They both glanced at one another in anticipation, both boy's silently daring one another to take the first bite.

Naturally, it was Naruto who broke the silence when he spoke to Sasuke, "Let's both take a bite at the same time so we can both enjoy it simultaneously." Sasuke nodded at what he seemed to accept as a reasonable excuse for their hesitation. They both grabbed their spoons and scooped up the gelatinous looking food and began to move their spoon towards their mouth inch by inch. By now Lightning was aware of the two boy's actions and peered over her newspaper to watch the inevitable mess that would soon ensue after they took a bite from the horrible food. The moment the food entered their mouth's they could taste the bitter, slimy, salty taste oozing into their mouth's and leaking down their throats. They soon began spitting out every morsel of food that they could possibly spit out and began clutching their throat's and coughing.

"_This...is...terrible...taste...like...slugs!" _Naruto thought to himself while Sasuke's thought was, "..."

"Hehehehe, what did I tell you idiots before, Serah's cooking is terrible." Lightning giggled while her sister was now getting quite red both from her embarrassing cooking and anger for her sister's brutal honesty. Serah was just about to apologize for accidentally poisoning the two poor boy's with her terrible cooking when Naruto stood up, and stared directly into Serah's eyes with his deep Cerulean eyes.

"Your cooking isn't bad at all. Quite...the...opposite honestly." Naruto told Serah in between coughs, "we're just not use to this type of cooking that's all. I'm sure if we eat this enough time's we'll begin to like it, right Sasuke?" But he was answered with a hard glare from the young Uchiha that practically screamed out_, "Hell no!"_ Knowing this response wouldn't be nice at all towards the girl who so kindly let them live in their house, he elbowed his friend hard in the arm subtly so Serah wouldn't see the the exchange between the two shinobi's.

"Hmph, it was OK..." The Uchiha huffed before turning his full attention towards the television again. Knowing that it was probably the best answer he could get out of his emo friend, Naruto glanced back at Serah and gave her a thumbs up followed by a foxy grin that could light up a whole room. Serah was in tears of joy. She knew what Naruto and Sasuke had just said was an absolute and utter lie, but she didn't care. The point was, if the boy's went to such length's to keep her happy, then they were the best friends that she would ever need or want. Lightning felt a similar emotion like her sister's, but her's were more conflicting, _"Naruto, do you ever listen to what you say to other people?" _She grinned at the whiskered boy's positive attitude towards what could have been a messy morning breakfast.

Naruto soon went back to eating his disgusting breakfast (tried anyways) and everyone else went back to their activities that they were doing before Naruto had arrived. Out of the blue, Sasuke spoke up much to the shock of his fellow friends, "What's a Fal'Cie?" he asked in a monotone. In reality Sasuke was very curious about it since watching a segment on them from the news on the television. Both Serah and Lightning glanced nervously at one another before Lightning spoke up.

"Their nothing important. You don't need to worry about them now, we can talk about them later." Quickly changing the subject, "from what I remember from last night you two need to find a job quickly or else I'll have no choice but to kick you out of the house." Hoping that the impromptu threat would distract them from the subject. Sasuke knowing that she was trying to distract them stopped himself from pressing on the subject and nodded towards her threat. Naruto, who was beginning to get a huge a headache from the sudden exchange from the two, tried to recover from his confusion.

"Well where should we start off looking for a job?" Naruto asked innocently. He had no idea what the process of getting a job was. His life always revolved around being a shinobi and making money that way. He never thought that he would have any other job then being a ninja.

Tapping her fingers on the wooden table in thought she then replied, "Well first I suggest you take a shower because you both reek. And secondly, you'll need some new clothes, especially you Naruto. Your orange jumpsuit is completely ridiculously and makes you more of an idiot then you already are.

"_Again, why does everyone attack my clothing choice?" _Annoyed at her statement, he quickly directed the attention to Sasuke, "What about Sasugay's clothes? I find them to be uglier then mine!" Naruto shouted then pointing directly at Sasuke's face.

"Hn, my clothes are perfectly fine. Compared to yours, mine are obviously the best while yours are perfect for you too, for a dobe that is." Sasuke smirked at the now enraged Naruto.

"Shut up teme! At least my hair doesn't look like a duck's ass, maybe you should think about wearing a hat instead of taking two hours everyday to fix your stupid hair up!" Naruto pointed towards Sasuke's hair.

"What did you say about my hair loser?" Sasuke motioned towards Naruto.

"You heard me bastard!" Both boy's were now clutching each other"s shirts, preparing to beat one another to a pulp to show their manliness. Serah sweat-dropped at the two boy's silliness while Lightning just frowned at the two boy's charades.

"Enough!" Getting the attention of the two boy's, "I want both of you guys to be showered in ten minutes or we're leaving without you." Lightning warned the two bickering boy's.

"Eh? Where are we going?" Naruto asked with sudden interest.

Sighing out loud at the thick headed blonde, she replied, "We're going to find you a job together. Your obviously gonna need our help because you two are too stupid to get one." She soon felt a wave of killer intent that was being combined by both Sasuke and Naruto, but shrugged them off like they were two incompetent children, "and it is also the only way that I'll know that you guys won't get a job at the library- which is where I work." Shaking her head at the thought of two idiots working at a quiet library. It wouldn't be so quiet if those two were hired at her library. She could already see it. All they would do all day would bicker and argue like two little girls over a doll. And she would be the one who would have to pick up the added slack created from both of them. No, she was not going to let that become a reality! Noticing that the two boys were still staring at her intently, she quickly became irritated and decided to accelerate things up a bit, "You got 8 minutes left. I suggest you hurry up now." She said calmly while crossing her arms.

Both boy's immediately became wide-eyed and began clumsily rushing out of the kitchen and soon disappeared upstairs. Lightning chuckled to herself at what she had just done to the poor boy's. Sure it was a little uncalled for and ungraceful, but she didn't care as long as it got the job done. Sensing her sister's presence, she turned her head towards the side slightly to see her sister stroll past her casually.

"You do know what you just did right Lightning?" Serah giggled, knowing full well what was about to unfold. Lightning made a huge grin and nodded. She closed her eyes and crossed her arms again waiting for a certain loud mouth to start yelling. Almost on cue, a pain stricken shout from a blonde haired boy was heard from upstairs inside the bathroom, "There's only one damn shower!"

* * *

_**Somewhere Near the Valley of the End**_

Kakashi was deep in thought while jumping from tree to tree. Lady Tsunade had brought both he and Sakura into her office to assign them a mission. What surprised him the most was that it was classified as an "S" class mission. But when he listened to Lady Tsunade's briefing he immediately realized why it was so. The mission had to be an "S" class mission in order for Lady Tsunade to allow both of them to search for Naruto. She explained that since it was an "S" class mission she didn't need to inform the Council of the mission thus excusing her from their strict restrictions and letting her send a team out to search for Naruto. Of course, if the Council heard about what she had just done, they would then have the power to excuse her of her duties of being Hokage. But it didn't matter to her. The only reason why she was Hokage in the first place was because of Naruto. If she got fired, she wouldn't care and probably would end up searching for him in person anyways. So to her this was just insurance in case it came down to that.

"Kakashi what's wrong?" A pink-haired kunoichi asked bringing him out of his stupor.

"It's nothing. Just thinking about the mission that's all." Giving Sakura an eye smile.

"I see..." She looked down towards the ground. She knew this whole situation was her fault. The reason Naruto was missing was because of her. She made him promise to bring Sasuke back even though it was extremely greedy of her to do so. She had become amazed at how quickly she realized how important Naruto was to her in such a short time after his disappearance. Yes, she still loved Sasuke but Naruto... well if she didn't know Sasuke she probably would've loved him instead. She had always felt sad about not being able to return Naruto's feeling and coped by treating him badly instead. She now understood the error's of her way's and decided to make her own promise. She would treat him much better the next time she saw him. If she ever saw him again. Sakura shook her head trying to dispel the awful thought.

"Sakura, we're here." Kakashi said making both ninja's halt before a giant waterfall. Swiveling his head around and studying his surrounding's carefully, he methodically went through several hand seals. "**Summoning Jutsu!" **

_**Poof!**_ Out of the smoke appeared a pack of dogs.

"Pakkun, I need you to try to find the scent of both Naruto and Sasuke. Can you do that for me?" Kakashi asked.

"We'll try our best, but I can't guarantee you anything Kakashi." The dogs instantly scattered in all directions.

"So this is where they fought huh Kakashi-Sensei?" Sakura asked while staring intently at the large waterfall.

"I'm afraid so. But if there is any trace of scent from those two my ninja hounds will quickly pick them up." He said trying feebly to reassure the apparent troubled girl.

Smiling to herself slightly she replied softly, "It's okay Sensei, I know your trying to comfort me, but giving me more false hope isn't something I need right now." She turned towards Kakashi, "and I already know that the dog's won't find them if they truly are in another world so maybe we should think more outside the box wouldn't you agree?"

Kakashi already knew that the chances of the ninja hounds picking either of their scents were little to none. But as of right now that was all he could come up with. They both were interrupted by an abrupt barking from Pakkun who was standing directly below the waterfall. Both ninja's quickly jumped to the spot where the small dog was sitting.

"I never thought I would smell this again." Pakkun thought aloud to himself.

"Smell what? Did you find Naruto and Sasuke?" Sakura asked beginning to feel her heart start racing from the idea of seeing both boys again.

Pakkun drooped his ears down to her question which Sakura quickly realized was not in fact what he had smelled. "No, it was something else. Something I've only smelled once in my entire life, I smelled Dark Matter." Silence answered the group after he spoke the mysterious words.

"Impossible, the only time that Dark Matter was ever recorded was when..." Kakashi's voice trailed off.

"Was when what happened?" Sakura was now getting very uncomfortable at the two nervous figures in front of her.

Sighing to himself since this was going to be a long lecture, Kakashi prepared himself and explained, "Many years ago the Fourth Hokage- who was my mentor at the time- found an ancient cave with special glyph's written into the walls of the cave. The glyph's resonated with unknown energy and unknown power at the time. He also found a odd contraption that appeared to be used as a doorway of some sorts. But the use of the device was never fully realized until much later. But the most shocking discovery that he made was the uncovering of a biological machine. The machine radiated mass amounts of the unknown energy that we would later name Dark Matter. But someone had also come through from the other side of the door way into our world. Even more proof of that was a book the Fourth Hokage would find hidden inside the mechanical being. And the disturbing thing about it was it was legible and understandable!" Kakashi paused to recollect his thoughts. Meanwhile Sakura was still in a state of disbelief. The idea of another being from another world coming to her's defied all her logic.

"Wait, does this mean we know who the person is then?" Sakura asked putting all the information that she had just received together into a cohesive thought.

Kakashi slowly nodded his head and answered back in a careful manner, "Yes, we do know who the person is and their name. The beings name was... Rikudou Sennin!" Sakura gasped at the name. She had read ancient books during her down time and had come across that name at least once in one of her readings. It quickly struck her, she knew who he was!

"You mean the being who came to our world was none other then the first Jinchuuriki?" She gasped in disbelief.

"Yes, but that's not all the Fourth Hokage learned, while reading through the book he realized the biological machine that he had seen was actually in the other world- which was called Cocoon- was considered to be a God! And that Rikudou Sennin was what they would call a demigod called a L'Cie." Shaking his head at what he was just saying. "But back to the point. The Nine Bijuu were all made up of Dark Matter, that is why their made up almost entirely of energy. And from that information I have made a solid hypothesis. The doorway/gate to the other world must then only be able to activate using Dark Matter and there is only one person who fought here who I would know posses the Dark Matter." Sakura pondered the question, but slowly but surely she came to an Epiphany.

"Naruto is a Jinchuuriki?" Completely unprepared for the sudden revelation, Sakura began to feel a little dizzy and her legs soon buckled from underneath her. Kakashi, satisfied with his lecture, turned back to Pakkun who was still gazing intently at the waterfall. But Kakashi did have a theory however...

Closing his left eye in order to prepare himself for what he was about to do, he needed to concentrate as much Chakra as he could into his now forming Mangekyō Sharingan. Both Sakura and Pakkun noticed Kakashi's peculiar actions but said nothing instead being content with just watching, and seeing what he would do next.

"**Kamui!**" Kakashi shouted out activating his Dōjutsu special ability. Instantly a black swirling vortex was created into the side of the waterfall. But there was something different about this technique. Instead of being essentially a black hole, the hole was now covered with radiating green light and gold colored dust ascending from it. "I guess...that proves... my theory." Kakashi huffed out from the massive exertion from the technique. Sakura could only stare wide-eyed at what she saw in front of her. Pakkun only nodded his head to his master's intelligence.

"I think I would be of more help if I went to Lady Tsunade and told her what happened here." Knowing all too well that they would most likely enter the portal and he would only be of hindrance if he tagged along.

"I agree, I wouldn't want to leave here without knowing that we said goodbye to Lady Tsunade." Kakashi eye smiled intently at Sakura and Pakkun.

"What do you mean goodbye? We're coming back aren't we Kakashi-Sensei?" Sakura now suddenly alarmed at his statement.

"I can't guarantee that we will be able to come back the same way. You see Sakura, the other world uses different laws, meaning in the other world my **Kamui **might act totally different compared to in this world. We can't risk using it in the other world or else possibly risking ourselves to being lost in the Abyss for all eternity." Sakura gulped at the bleak claim. But she also knew this whole problem was her fault to begin with. She wasn't strong enough to stop Sasuke from leaving the village. She wasn't strong enough to put aside her greedy ambitions and to just be happy with Naruto. Now was the time for her to be strong, now was definitely her time to save the two boys that always saved her. It was time to bring Team 7 back, and most importantly it was time to save the people she now considered family. Albeit a dysfunctional one, but a family nonetheless. She motioned towards the portal and Kakashi silently understanding Sakura's new found resolve followed after her. Pakkun and the rest of the ninja hound dispersed, and soon to be summoned into the Hokage's Office much to the shock of a blond haired Sannin who really really hates the smell of wet dogs near her. The two ninja's slowly dissolved into the green portal while preparing themselves for the new world they would soon enter. Little would they know they would quickly meet up with a blond haired whiskered boy sooner than expected.

Farther away from the scene a shadowy figure had watched the entire scene played out between the Hidden Leaf Village's ninjas. The figure was looking for a certain someone who had disappeared there recently also. There was nothing very distinct about the figure other than his long, dark cloaks with red clouds, a red interior, and a chin-high collar. His eyes were also very distinctive. The sun was fading and the forest was quickly being enveloped into darkness. But, before it became totally dark, the only feature a person would have been able to see would be the figures Mangekyō Sharingan cutting into the darkness...

* * *

**So I tried to put in an original plot line in this fiction. I hope that it's interesting enough to want you readers to come back for more. I know there maybe some plot holes obviously but there shouldn't be too many. Another thing, don't forget to review! Hope you enjoyed the long overdue update, and again until next time ciao!**


	4. Chapter 4 A Thorned Rose

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I own FFXIII. But I'll let you know when I do :)

**Wow guys, I'm back with an update. I'm going to keep this A.N. short so bare with me. Some of the pairings will be shown at the bottom of this chapter. This story will follow the source material as closely as possible. And lastly don't forget to: REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW. Like always, I hope you enjoy it ;)**

**Chapter 4 : A Thorned Rose**

"Why the hell am I wearing this?" Naruto shouted with annoyance. After showering and quickly washing up, both Sasuke and Naruto soon realized that they did not have any extra clothes. Naruto was dressed up in a formal yellow and black striped turtle neck t-shirt, while Sasuke was sporting a traditional suit and tie with black and red colors clashing. To Naruto's horror- maybe Sasuke's also- Lightning and Serah decided to have a bit of fun with the two young boys fashion statement, and dress them up like their own personal dolls.

"Hehehe, Lightning I think we've done enough humiliating for today don't you think?" Serah asked while peeking over to her giggling sister.

"Alright alright, but seriously this is the attire you will wear when you apply for a job. No if, and, or but's you got it?" Suddenly glaring at Naruto who shriveled a bit from the intense gaze. Thinking that everything was in order, Lightning glanced at her watch quickly and then looked back up to her awaiting peers, "I'm sorry to inform you that I must leave for work right now. I trust Serah will help you guys to get a job and hopefully keep it also," quickly glancing at Serah who just winked back at her in acknowledgment, "I should be back at around 7:00 P.M. so don't get too comfy while I'm gone." And with that she turned and jogged out through the front door.

"Man that Lightning sure is bossy," Naruto snorted out only to be pelted in the face by a rock that suspiciously flew in from directly outside the front door. Naruto instinctively grasped his face in utter pain while Serah began laughing at the childish interactions between Naruto and Lightning.

"Let's just get out of here. I'm sick of being cooped inside this hell hole." Sasuke said while slowly walking towards the door. Both Serah and Naruto looked at Sasuke in disgust. They also began sticking their tongue's out at him, and also making funny faces at him. "Naruto, you do know I can see what you two losers are doing right?" Sasuke paused before he continued on walking. Naruto cursed himself mentally that he had forgot about Sasugay's stupid Sharingan, while Serah marveled at what she thought was Sasuke's inhuman perception. Both teenagers recovered and began running to keep up with the young Uchiha who now had sped up his walking speed. Exiting the Farron's house, both Shinobi's would soon experience a whole new perspective than they had when they first entered the mysterious world.

* * *

_**Akatsuki Hideout**_

A shadowy figure had just entered a dark gloomy cave while dragging his most recent bounty when he was interrupted by a cocky voice and path blocked, "Good job as usual Itachi, but I couldn't help but notice the unusual amount of time it took you to complete your task," staring at his still comrade and grinning, "perhaps you decided to take a sudden... detour?" The figure Itachi still had his hood up to cover his face and eyes still looking down when he spoke.

"My business is of none of your concern Kisame Hoshigake," he replied venomously, "I do what I feel must be done and I suggest you end this frivolous conversation or else..." Itachi trailed off now glaring at Kisame with his Sharingan fully activated.

"Easy there Itachi, I was only curious. I didn't mean to intrude in your private affairs." Kisame nervously apologized while stepping aside to let his partner through. Itachi emotionless as usual went back to dragging his bounty. _"What's wrong with Itachi? He only gets that bothered when something is really wrong." _Kisame thought to himself when out of the blue a loud explosion was heard. Looking up, Kisame saw a large sharp shaped stalactite falling dangerously fast towards the ground. Too late to react, he realized too slowly that it was falling head-on with Itachi. "Itachi look out!" But it was too late. The stalactite was too large and too fast to dodge, and with a sickening crunch Itachi was pulverized by the large chunk of rock. Horrified, Kisame rushed towards Itachi's location only to find a large pool of blood dripping out of the crash site. _"How did he not dodge this?" _Kisame thought to himself. It seemed really out of place, the whole situation, but he couldn't piece anything together right now. He finally forced himself from his shock and quickly ran off to contact the other members of what just happened.

* * *

_**Somewhere Near the Valley of the End**_

A loud explosion could be heard reverberating throughout the forest. Itachi quickened his speed when he heard the explosion and thought to himself_, "Kisame, that fool to look directly into my eyes. What I've warned him about these eyes meant nothing to him? Thank Kami he is too prideful and to arrogant to decipher what just happened or else my plans of escape would have came to an abrupt end." _

Itachi was nearing his destination and began scanning his surroundings in case any of his members thought he was still alive and went looking for him. In the end, the area was all clear, he closed his eyes and began focusing Chakra into his right eye. He had no idea if this would work or not but had to try.

"Amaterasu!" Itachi yelled out. A jet black stream of eternal flames shot out from Itachi's right eye and enveloped the side of the waterfall. Similar to what had happened with Kakashi earlier, a portal appeared. Hesitant about entering it, Itachi finally deemed it safe to walk through and thus passed onto the other side.

* * *

_**Back in Cocoon**_

Naruto was already having a terrible day. His morning started off decent enough until he walked into the Farron's kitchen. The combination of Serah's horrendous cooking and Lightning's sinister sense of humor totally threw him off that morning. Now he was stuck wearing what he thought to be ugly, non useful pieces of clothing.

"Dammit, we need to get different clothing because what Sasuke and I have on now make us look and feel ridiculous!" Naruto cried out while trying to readjust his turtle neck.

"I for once agree with the dobe. These clothes we have on seem to be more of a hindrance than anything." Sasuke replied while fixing his tie also.

Serah couldn't but help to agree with the forlorn boys. What her sister made them dress in was absolute nonsense and self detrimental. Thinking that the boys deserved better, she offered an alternative, "Okay I must admit what my sister made you dress in was a little over the top-" She quickly received death stares from the boys and hurried her explanation, "so I've decided that we should go to a clothing store and pick out more decent clothing than you have on right now."

Naruto fist pumped the air and yelled out, "Hell yes! I get to finally get my own pair of clothing instead wearing my same old orange jumpsuit." Sasuke just shook his head at his friends excitement over clothing and nodded his "enthusiasm" towards Serah. Serah couldn't help but giggle every time Naruto did something weird or childish, it was just way too cute to ignore she thought.

"Then let's go! I know a place nearby that might have clothes that you may like." Serah said while gesturing the boys to follow her.

The clothing store that they entered was named, _**Meke's Clothes & Apparels**_. Naruto quickly rushed off into one of the clothing aisles, too focused on what he was going to get and wear. Sasuke casually approached a sleeveless dark grey shirt and said, "I want this one." Serah sweat-dropped at Sasuke's immediate pick but agreed to buy it nonetheless.

Naruto came back with a short-sleeved long white haori and an orange jacket in his possession, "Can you please buy this for me Serah?" Giving her his own version of the puppy eyes (Kitten eyes seems more appropriate). In all honesty she thought what he picked out were great pieces of clothing, but her only problem with them was Naruto's desire for his clothing to contain the color orange.

"Fine, I'll buy them. But seriously your puppy eyes need more work if their gonna be as great as mine," Serah winked at Naruto before heading to the cash registers to pay for the items.

"Hey Naruto, what job should we apply for because I seriously doubt that this world's army would recruit twelve year old soldiers into them." Sasuke whispered into Naruto's ear.

"Great thinking Sasuke! Hmm what should our job be..." Naruto was deep in thought when he saw his answer quite literally. A Postman had just dropped off a box in front of them to an employee and began walking off to another location. "That's it! We can be postman! With our ninja skills and speed we could be the best Postman ever on this planet!" Naruto said with inspiration in his eyes.

"That's not that bad of an idea dobe," Sasuke received a glare from Naruto but kept on talking, "only thing now we have to do is to find out where to apply." Sasuke turned his head towards the cash register and noticed that Serah was waving at them signaling to them to come over by her. "Let's go, Serah is done paying and waiting for us by the exit." Both teenagers meet up with Serah and explain to her what their plan was for getting a job.

"Hmm that's a great choice for a job, and I know where a local Post-office is around here." Serah replied while pointing to a nearby building. "I'll just wait here while you guys go apply in there okay?" Both boys nodded their head's and began walking towards the nearby building. Serah meanwhile had located a bench and sat down in it and began staring up into the sky.

When the boys entered the postal-office they were quickly greeted with a commotion of people bustling in and out of the building. "Uh let's go check by the front desk." Sasuke suggested before they began weaving in and out of crowds of people towards their destination.

"Hello there kids, how may I help you two?" The receptionist asked in a almost too sweet of a voice.

"We're here to apply for a Postman's position." Naruto answered back.

"Well let me check real quick," she replied before averting all her attention back to the computer, "your in luck! There is two open positions right now and you two are coincidentally the first two people to apply for it." She said again in her sickening sweet voice.

"Alright, so do we get the job then?" Sasuke asked with his eyebrows raised. He couldn't believe how easy it was to get a job if they indeed did get the two positions.

"Yep, we just need you two to fill out these application sheets and there, your hired!" She exclaimed before leaning in close to their ears, "Unless of course your both L'Cie's." She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the two teenagers. Naruto and Sasuke felt a very, very cold chill go up their spines'

"_L'Cie? Could it somehow be related with the Fal'Cie's?"_ Sasuke was sure there was a connection but he still had no idea what they both were. His only thought now was what to do next.

"Hahahaha I'm just messing with you boys! Sheesh, I'd think you guys would be a little more relaxed than this. Say, would this happen to be your first job application?" She questioned quizzically looking at the boys in front of her.

"N-No we had a job before." Naruto squeaked out still reeling back from the false accusation.

"Well that's good to hear. But if you guys want my advice for this line of work, then I suggest you guys get to know your surroundings and locations very well because your gonna need to know where to drop off your deliveries and do so efficiently." She says while tapping her finger on her cheek in a thinking pose. "My name is Suna and I will be here if you ever need help during one of your deliveries."

Filling out and handing the applications in, they were informed to report back in two days at 12:00 P.M.

They exited the Post-office and met up with Serah. "So did you guys get the job?" She asked nervous that they might have gotten rejected, and that they would have to be kicked out.

Naruto gave Serah a thumbs up and said, "That Postman's position was as good as ours once we walked in, believe it!" Sasuke grinned and nodded his head in confirmation that they had indeed gotten the job.

Serah yelped in joy and gave Naruto a very bone crushing hug that didn't allow Naruto to breathe. "Serah... Can't... Breathe... Have... To... Let... Go!" Naruto wheezed out in between breaths.

"Oops! Sorry, accidentally got carried away there," Serah released Naruto from her grasp and Naruto took a large sigh of relief when he was free.

Sasuke stared at the two teenagers and chuckled at the oblivious Naruto_, "Naruto, are you that thick-headed to see that she has a crush on you?" _Sasuke thought to himself until Serah spoke up.

"So guys, who's hungry?"

* * *

_**In Bodhum's Library**_

The day had been terrible for Lightning. She couldn't get any of her work done because of the construction being done to expand the library. She didn't know why they needed to since the library was classified under the "Top 10 largest building in Bodhum". Her thoughts were interrupted when a blonde haired child "coughed" to get her attention. "Missy, can I check out this book pwease?" The child looked no older than six years old and she couldn't help but to smile at the innocence of the young boy. She grabbed the book from the outstretched hands of the little boy and scanned it over the laser to record the book being checked out. The book was titled, _"The Missing Chocobo". _Lightning smiled to herself, her mother had read that book to them when they were younger before bed. She enjoyed the book, but what she enjoyed the most was listening to her mother's melodic and soothing voice before falling asleep mid-read. Lightning's face soon turned solemn from the thought of her now deceased mother. "Are you okay missy?" The young boy asked clearly concerned from seeing the receptionist in apparent pain. Looking up from her depressive state, she peered into the boys eyes. She immediately realized that the boy looked similar to another blonde haired.

"Tch, yeah I'm fine. If that's all you need then leave now." Her voice sounding more menacing than she had actually planned it to sound. The boy looked hurt and quickly turned around and sprinted out of the library. She sighed to herself, she had to be mean to that boy right now or else he would have seen her eyes forming tears. She could not be seen as weak to anyone, and was again forced to put her mask on again. _"Why did I just think of Naruto just then?" _She thought to herself. Just then, a chime went off indicating that someone had entered the library through the front entrance. _"Please don't come by me, please please please please..." _She pleaded, but soon heard foot steps approaching her. "_Why me?" _She groaned internally while looking up. Instantly she recognized something about them that was very familiar yet very peculiar. The two people in front of her sported on each of their foreheads a Hidden Leaf Hitai-ate. She could only gawk at the two figures in front of her. The man with the ridiculously tall spiky white hair noticed Lightning staring at them and came to a realization.

"This isn't the first time you've seen this head band is it?" Lightning only shook her head in reply too stunned at what she was seeing.

The pink-haired girl spoke up, "Kakashi-Sensei, I think she's in shock." Analyzing the fellow pink-haired receptionist.

"Well we gotta get information out of her either way." Replying back to Sakura. "Have you met Naruto and Sasuke recently?" Kakashi knew she had met them but didn't know when she did.

"I, uh, umm last saw them this morning in my house while I was getting ready to leave for work." Lightning replied still in utter shock. Kakashi believed the story since it related with Naruto's goodbye letter.

"So you must be Lightning then right?" He noticed she had pink hair just like Sakura's and assumed she was really Lightning.

"Yea-yeah how do you know my name?" She asked nervously, shaking from the sudden events.

It only got worse when the other pink-haired girl (Sakura) rushed up and planted her face uncomfortably close to Lightning's and yelled at her, "I swear to Kami if Naruto or Sasuke are hurt from you in any way, I WILL DESTROY YOU!" Sakura's eyes exploded with uncontrollable anger. Lightning for once in her life was afraid, very very afraid. She nodded her head in reassurance and looked at the older man for aide.

"That's enough Sakura! I know she took the best possible care she could give to both Naruto and Sasuke." Putting a hand on Sakura and gradually leading her slowly away from the frightened receptionist. Sakura lowered her killer intent just a bit, but it still froze Lightning. Sighing to himself, he looked Lightning in the eye and asked, "Can you take us to your home?"

"Of course. I can take you right now." She replied almost recovered from the shock. She quickly finished her work and closed her station before leaving out of the library with her two followers.

* * *

_**Back at the Farron's House**_

Once Lightning walked in the house she was bear hugged by a certain blonde-haired boy. "Lightning we have a job! Now you can't kick us out haha!" Naruto cheered while Serah and Sasuke watched with mixed reactions. Serah's was one of pure joy of seeing Naruto hugging her sister, while Sasuke's was a pained joy from seeing his friend that happy. But Naruto noticed something was off. He sensed the presence of two more people and sprang into a fighting pose ready to engage whatever threat was there.

"Is that anyway to greet your fellow Sensei?" A familiar voice said to which Naruto all of a suddenly froze to. From the doorway entered Kakashi-Sensei and Sakura Haruno. Even Sasuke was caught off guard from the unexpected reunion.

"Ho-how did you find us?" Naruto asked with his mouth agape.

Kakashi thought for a moment before answering, "Well let's first sit down because this is going to be a long explanation," sneaking a glance at the Farron sisters, "and I'd appreciate it if we could talk alone." The sisters understanding what he meant quickly left the living room and began to proceed upstairs in order to leave them alone. Kakashi retold them about all the events that led up to them meeting. He also was forced to tell Sasuke that Naruto had the Nine-Tailed Fox sealed with-in him.

"I already knew he had it in him." Sasuke replied nonchalantly much to the surprise of Kakashi and Sakura. Sasuke explained how he found out this morning.

* * *

_**Flashback**_

"_**So that's what you have in you." Sasuke thought out loud to the suddenly frozen Jinchurikki.**_

"_**Sasuke-" "Naruto I had my suspicions but this only confirmed them." Sasuke interrupted Naruto. "And no, knowing that you contain it doesn't change what I think of you, which is a stubborn dobe." Sasuke grinned at his fellow Shinobi. **_

"_**Thank you Sasuke..." Naruto replied with difficulty. He was too happy that Sasuke didn't think of him as a monster just like so many villagers had. Maybe they could truly fix their friendship now.**_

"_**Oh don't get all girly on me now Naruto," grinning at Naruto's reaction at being called a girl," c'mon let's go get some breakfast."**_

"_**I'll catch up with you in a little bit. There's something I must do first." Sasuke just shrugged and went upstairs to the kitchen.**_

* * *

_**End of Flashback**_

"Interesting, you figured out one of the Sharigan's capabilities. I gotta say I'm impressed Sasuke." Kakashi eye smiled at a bored Sasuke.

"Whatever, like I said before, I had my suspicions." Sasuke noticed that Sakura was acting very odd. Not once had she acted at all like a fan girl. Quite the opposite, she kept to herself during the entire conversation and only talked when needed. This new Sakura, he could actually stand being around.

During the conversations, Sakura also noticed something odd. Naruto wasn't trying to get her attention at all. Sure, he wasn't avoiding her but he didn't appear as interested as he usually would. Then she remembered how he reacted with Lightning. _"Does he love someone else?" _Sakura pondered when Kakashi interrupted, "Alright kids, I think it's time for bed. It's getting pretty late and Sakura and I are pretty tired from this day's adventure." Suspiciously quick, the Farron sisters appeared down from the stairs and escorted the two ninja's to their sleeping rooms, which was an abnormally large storage room. When they came back into the living room they had an all knowing look on their faces.

"We heard everything." Lightning simply stated. But before Naruto and Sasuke could explain their conversation she interrupted them, "Right now I don't care. But we're going to solve this colossal issue soon!" Lightning gave the boys a certain look that promised impending doom.

"Right, so let's follow your fellow friend's examples and head to bed." Serah chimed in cheerfully trying to extinguish the hostile atmosphere. Both boys began to head downstairs while Lightning was staring outside the window. Serah was worried for her sister but decided against trying to intrude in her deep thoughts and also began climbing up the stairs towards her bedroom. Lightning stood there for a couple of more minutes before walking out the front door.

* * *

Naruto couldn't sleep. He was being dogged by these new feelings that he had never felt before. He didn't know how to explain them, he could only describe them and even then he struggled to do that. The feelings were similar to how he felt when he was around Sakura, but these feelings were more intense, more real than the ones he had before. That was it, he needed to know know more about what he was feeling, but most importantly more about her. He got up from his resting position and began walking upstairs to Serah's room.

Serah was writing in her diary the accounts of today's events. She wrote about the morning's incident and how Naruto and Sasuke came to her aide, again. She also wrote about the adventure to the store and the reaction she felt when they got the job at the Post-office. But the theme that kept repeating in her entry was her feelings for Naruto. He was the knight in shining armor, Prince Charming, and her hero. She then heard a loud knock on her door. Curious as to who would be knocking on her bedroom door at this hour, she slowly slid off her bed and went to open the door. Much to her surprise the person who greeted her at the door was none other than her major crush, Naruto! Quickly she ran over to her bed and threw her diary under the bed. Embarrassed, she spoke up, "Hi there Naruto, is there something you need?" She tried to say as calmly as possible.

"Hey Serah, I just wanted to ask you some questions regarding... uh... Lightning." Naruto said while grabbing his hair in nervousness.

"Oh..." Serah's heart sank from his sudden interest in her older sister. She felt like her heart now weighed a ton and that it would rip out of her chest at any moment.

Noticing that Serah had suddenly become solemn, he quickly followed up in fear of Serah being disgusted with him being interested with any of them, "I'm sorry, maybe I should go since it seems like I offended you." Serah smiled weakly, even when it wasn't his fault he still tried to take the blame and try to make her feel better.

"No, everything's fine. Sure I'll talk to you about Lightning!" Serah replied cheerfully, trying her hardest to hide her hurt. She sat down on her bed and patted beside herself indicating for Naruto to sit by her. Naruto obliged and they were soon sitting by each other in awkward silence.

Finally, Naruto broke the silence and asked, "Was Lightning always like this?" Seeing Serah tilt her head in confusion, he explained even clearer, " I mean was she always this cold, this... distant?"

Serah looked down at the carpet and thought about it. No, she wasn't always like this. When their parents were alive she was the most rambunctious sister out of the two. Funny how a traumatic event can change a person so much. "No, she wasn't like this all the time. She was once like me, maybe even more cheerful." Naruto nodded in understanding. He knew that many traumatic events could change a person. Not knowing his parents was all the more proof of that.

Naruto looked Serah in the eye and asked, "What is Lightning's favorite flower?" Naruto had learned from Ino that sometimes the way to a women's heart was to bring them their favorite flower.

Unprepared for such a question, Serah shook her head and answered back, "Funny thing you ask. You see her favorite flower is a rose. It would be almost cliché except she doesn't like it for the obvious reasons." Naruto, confused, was about to ask why until Serah said, "Your going to have to ask her yourself Naruto because I feel it's too personal to her for me to reveal that about her." Naruto really wanted to know why, had to focus all his energy to resist from asking. "Actually you could ask her tonight, she can be found walking along the beach. If you hurry you might be able to catch up with her." She nudged Naruto towards the door encouraging him to go search for her. Naruto got up and thanked Serah for spending time with him and answering some of his questions and left her bedroom. But when he left, Serah went back into despair. The only thing that could help her be at peace with herself would be to climb onto her roof and stare at the stars. She always did that whenever she was troubled. She climbed out of her bed and trudged up a nearby spiral staircase that leads to the roof.

* * *

When she got to the roof she saw someone she was surprised to see. There was Sasuke doing the exact same thing she was going to do on the roof. She had always assumed Sasuke was a arrogant little brat, but this side of him shocked her greatly. Sasuke sensing her presence, turned his head towards her and said, "Can't sleep either?" Serah just nodded her head. Sasuke just shrugged his shoulders and went back to gazing at the stars. Cautiously, Serah sat beside the young Uchiha and began staring at the stars.

Finally not being able to hold back her curiosity, she asked, "Sasuke, why aren't you like this all the time?" Sasuke didn't say anything so she assumed that he didn't want to answer her and she soon went back to her deep thoughts.

"You wouldn't understand." Serah's thoughts were interrupted by Sasuke's sudden outburst.

She wanted to know more so she answered, "Try me." Now focusing entirely on Sasuke.

"Let's just say something... personal happened in my life to make me this way." Sasuke said without looking at Serah.

"Well your subliminal thoughts aren't helping me understand at all." Serah said annoyed at the Uchiha's reluctance to divulge anything personal.

"How would you act if your sister killed your entire family? Everyone you loved, killed by Lightning's hands? Then, you would understand." Sasuke glared at Serah quickly before turning his head away again. Serah, stunned by such a scenario, stared at Sasuke in absolute disgust.

"So what? It's not like your the only person who experienced a tragic loss. My parents died four years ago and you know what? I didn't roll over and die! Sure, it hurt and I wanted revenge, but you know what? Retribution only ends in more pain and suffering. If that is your life's goal then I pity you! I truly do because your throwing away your life for something that you couldn't prevent. It's not your fault Sasuke! The sooner you learn that, the quicker you can move on," Serah huffed. She never talked like that to anyone except her sister on occasions. She got up and began going towards the staircase.

Sasuke was dazed by the heartfelt speech from Serah. In the span of one minute she ripped apart his revenge plan and made him feel shameful for thinking that killing his brother, Itachi, would bring his clan back. "Serah wait!" She paused mid stride to listen to what he had to say. "Thanks..." What? Sasuke was thanking her? This was too good to be true, but she went along with it.

"I don't like seeing someone in pain, even if they act like a jerk." She began walking again leaving Sasuke alone to his thoughts.

* * *

Naruto had spent a good thirty minutes looking for Lightning, but he eventually caught up with her. "Hey Lightning wait up!" Surprised to hear her name being called, she turned around to see a blonde-haired boy running up to her.

"Naruto, what are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be sleeping?" She asked puzzled to why Naruto was looking for her.

"Couldn't sleep, too...much...on my mind." Naruto replied in between breaths from the non-stop running he had done to catch up with her. Lightning gave him a minute to rest up before he spoke up. "I just wanted to ask you; why is your favorite flower a rose? _"Serah..."_ Lightning was now somewhat upset that her sister would reveal something personal to Naruto at all. _"Well she must have done it for a reason so..." _Lightning looked up towards the sky and watched the full moon with sudden interest. Naruto wondering what was so interesting, looked up at the moon also, and found himself entranced by its beauty.

"The reason why my favorite flower is a rose is because I... well... I think of myself as one." Lightning suddenly replied still gazing at the moon.

"Don't take this the wrong way Lightning, but your nothing like a rose." Naruto said truthfully. Instinctively, he recoiled in anticipation for Lightning's punch. But she just simply turned her head towards Naruto and gave a small laugh.

"Have you ever seen a rose in the wild Naruto?" Seeing Naruto shake his head no she continued on, "Well, in the wild a rose is not as elegant as one might think it would be. The flower is covered in thorns and can be quite painful to hold if held without gloves. Florist almost always cut the thorns off the roses whenever they sell them to the public. I guess what I'm saying is that on the outside I am cold and protective, while on the inside I am beautiful and unique- that's what Serah says anyways..." Lightning trailed off in thought.

"I think you got things mixed up Lightning." Lightning looked at Naruto questioningly after he said that statement. "I think Serah is the rose and your the thorns. Together you both make the flower." Naruto explained while kicking the sand out of his shoes. He slowly peered over to Lightning and was stupefied. Lightning's face glowed magnificently in the moonlight and her striking features were enhanced tremendously. She looked, in essence, like an angel.

She also was marveling over Naruto's physique. His muscles were more distinguished in the moonlight, and his whiskers made her desperately want to rub them. She could see that in a couple of years he would become a very handsome man. She blushed at the thought of him becoming a man and her becoming a woman. "_Wait, am I falling in love with Naruto?"_ She couldn't deny her fixation with him either way, but was it really love, or just a crush? She shook her head which made her blonde-haired Jinchurikki's cheeks turn a slight shade of pink from seeing her beautiful hair swaying in the moonlight.

Remembering what they were talking about, she broke the silence, "That makes sense I guess." Naruto was oblivious to her answer and was content with just analyzing her flawless features. Lightning, noticing Naruto's intense gaze, began to feel a warm feeling in her stomach. _Please stop looking at me like this. If you don't I'm afraid I'll explode." _Lightning thought to herself. She also noticed they had gotten a lot closer during their inspection of one another. This was just so perfect. Under the stars and full moon, it was an almost magical moment between the two. All it was missing was... _"No, we can't do this. Not now, not until we figure things out." _She thought regrettably.

"Naruto, we should head back inside before we catch a cold." Naruto sighed in anguish, he too wanted the same thing, but alas understood also that the time wasn't right, if ever.

"Your right, last one home is a rotten Sasugay!" Naruto yelled out before turning around and dashing towards the Farron's household.

"He-hey that's no fair! You got a head-start!" She yelled back at Naruto before also racing back towards her house. She definitely didn't want to be rotten, especially a rotten emoish kid! She quickly caught up with Naruto, who was smaller than her, and beat him to the house. "Ha! You're a rotten Sasuke!" Lightning exclaimed before lifting her arms in triumph. Naruto grumbled in disappointment, but really he lost on purpose. He knew he could've used some Chakra to beat Lightning, but he wanted to see Lightning's smile all along. To him this was his victory.

* * *

**Naruto (12)- Lightning (12)**

**Sasuke (12)- ?**

**Kakashi (26)- Vanille (20)**

**Itachi (18)- ?**

**Next Chapter: An Uncertain Future**

**Some ages have been altered. Oh well. Don't forget to review and as usual, until next time ciao!**


	5. Chapter 5 An Uncertain Future

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I own FFXIII. But I'll let you know when I do :)

**Here's an update for you all! I'm sad to report in that this story will be updated sporadically since there's been a lot of stuff going on in my life. I do want to expand my story more so you can be assured that this story will keep being updated. This story is now slowly getting to the interesting parts of this story. So I hope you enjoy! ;)**

* * *

**Chapter 5 : An Uncertain Future**

_A month had passed since the reunion between the four Hidden Leaf Ninja's. Although the ninja's had a very solid excuse for their sudden appearance; the Farron sisters' suspected that there was a much larger mystery to these odd events. Even so, life for the most part for them, and the ninja's, went as normal as it could with almost complete strangers. As accustomed, both Kakashi and Sakura needed jobs in order to live within the Farron's household. Sakura, being intrigued with medicine and having pin point control with her Chakra, applied for a nursing job by a nearby hospital. Easy enough, she was able to get the job, but was also learning on the job. Kakashi's love for reading books landed him a job in Bodhum's library. His official title was that of a librarian, but he always seemed to be reading a certain book while on the job while oblivious to everyone except Lightning. When she found out what he was up to, she quickly banned him from __**"THAT"**__ part of the library since she technically had higher ranking than what Kakashi had. Meanwhile, Naruto and Sasuke soon became very successful with their jobs as Postmen. With their great teamwork and "special" skills, they were able to to make a decent enough income to support everybody. However, Serah was the only member of the dysfunctional family to not have a job and to not be working like everybody else. She had a strange feeling that she would soon be used to being the odd person out. But her dream job was to become a teacher, she just didn't seem to have a good enough reason to chase that dream of her's. Even after a month later, not all the questions that Lightning had asked to the ninja's had yet been answered. But she was beginning to form an hypothesis and just needed to hear a couple more hints before she could form an answer next. _

* * *

_**Streets of Bodhum**_

"Naruto, stop jumping up and down like a little kid!" Sakura yelled at the hyperactive blonde.

"I can't help it! We're going to that place and you know me. I haven't had that kind of food for over a month!" Naruto squealed in anguish.

Sighing to himself, Kakashi spoke up," How do you even have that much energy after all that we've went through today?

"I dunno, but who cares I'm starving!" The six "family" members had decided to go out to eat since everyone, including Serah, was too tired to cook dinner for that night. Coincidentally, it was Naruto's night to pick out where they should eat out tonight, and much to the surprise of the Farron sisters it was a ramen restaurant that he had chosen. Naruto had found the restaurant by accident while on the job. It took all of Sasuke's threats and energy in order for him to persuade Naruto to not destroy the only ramen restaurant in the city with his inhuman appetite. It was when Serah told them that the ramen restaurant was all you can eat that there was no stopping Naruto from eating there no matter what.

When they got to the restaurant they were quickly seated, and allowed to get up and grab food. Naruto not needing to be told twice, almost teleported out of his seat in search for his precious ramen. The whole table frowned when Naruto came back with eight bowls of ramen in his possession.

"_What the hell? How is that even possible?" _Thought Lightning while craning her neck stiffly at the towering stack of ramen bowls before her.

"_I think I'm going to be sick." _Serah held her breath trying to keep her stomach intact while Naruto began to pig into his meal.

"_I totally regret trying to rescue Naruto right now." _Thought Sakura while she stared at him with a dead panned expression.

"Naruto, slow down will you? Your starting to scare the nearby patrons with your obnoxious eating habits." Kakashi shook his head like he was trying to shake off an imaginary fly off of him.

Dumbfounded, Naruto looked around the restaurant to find out that indeed people were staring at him like he was an insane person. Sheepishly, he apologized to everyone with his eating while still having food in his mouth. Naruto sensed that something was off though. He looked at his table and found that Sasuke was missing. He stood up abruptly from his feasting and searched the restaurant. To his relief, he found Sasuke outside of the restaurant looking bored as usual.

"H-here's your check sir." The waiter said nervously from seeing the boy eat a whole family's worth of ramen in such a short amount of time.

"Huh? Hey, you guys haven't even ate anything." Naruto said while glancing at everyone.

"Uh I think I speak for everyone here that we don't have an appetite." Kakashi replied while receiving nods of confirmation from the people in the table. Naruto just shrugged and went back to finishing his meals while the rest of the table sweat-dropped from his insane appetite.

Outside Sasuke was staring up into the sky like he always did at night. He couldn't help but to think that every time he looked up, the stars appeared to get duller and duller. That night with Serah had given him a slight change in thought about his whole vengeance thing and all with his brother Itachi. He was unsuspectingly reminded of the good times with his brother before the Uchiha massacre. His brother always seemed to be light-hearted and enlightening whenever he was around him. Was it all just a mask? Was it just all a lie in order to deceive everyone so that he could then back stab everyone? Sasuke knew about those kinds of masks. He knew no matter if people denied having one, everybody had one including a certain loud-mouth blonde. Turning his head towards the window, Sasuke could see Naruto laughing and being an idiot in front of his peers. Everyone at that table believed he was an arrogant, go lucky boy. But he knew that the boy's act was a lie. He'd seen that boy's eyes before and they were just like his. Cold, pained, and also hateful. Sasuke was brought out of his brooding when he caught onto to a gliding pamphlet. Curious about it, he snatched it mid-air and looked at the cover.

"_**Guardian Corps Bodhum Security Regiment Academy."**_ Raising an eyebrow at this, he read the entire pamphlet inside and out. After he had finished reading the entire pamphlet, he let out a huge sigh. He really didn't want to be involved with any army in this world. But he was interested in it mainly because it might have to deal with the L'Cie and Fal'Cie. _"This would be like the academy all over again," _Sasuke pondered about whether or not it was even worth joining up until a feminine voice answered it for him.

"So you want to join the army as well, Sasuke?" Turning his head towards the direction of the voice he saw Lightning slowly walking towards him. She reached out for the pamphlet in his hands in which, he easily handed it over. She peered over the pamphlet quickly, but Sasuke knew she had already read something about the academy before hand.

"What of it?" Sasuke replied indifferently.

Shrugging her shoulders, Lightning replied while turning to Naruto and them who were behind her," I'm leaving for it tomorrow actually. I was going to tell you guys tonight but this seems to be a good time to say it." Naruto's eyes were bulging out of his sockets. Why didn't Lightning tell any of them about this before hand? He was also beginning to get upset with Lightning hiding secrets from him all the time. "_Why is she always this hard to read!"_ Naruto practically screamed in his head.

Sasuke, shaking off his slight daze from hearing that from Lightning, spoke up again, "Hn, I guess I'll join up since I already know someone else is going to join with you." He turned towards Naruto with his eyes closed.

"Damn right I'm joining also teme! This will give me a new opportunity to wipe your ass all over the academy again!" Naruto glared at Sasuke with burning determination in his eyes. Both Farron's looked at one another when Naruto mentioned "the academy again." with quizzical looks on their faces. Both reached a conclusion with Naruto having failed school or something and shrugged off the odd statement.

"You wish dobe." Sasuke smirked at Naruto's antics. Maybe this whole academy thing was a good idea. Hell it might even be kinda fun kicking Naruto's ass again just like he did back in the Academy.

"_Great, it's like the first day of orientation all over again." _Kakashi face-palmed himself.

"Naruto, Sasuke are you really serious about this," receiving a nod of confirmation, Sakura continued, "well I guess good luck to you guys." She mumbled out the rest.

"Sakura, aren't you going to join also?" Naruto asked perplexed about why she wouldn't want to be a soldier.

"Thanks for your thoughtfulness Naruto, but I think I'm better off being a nurse than a soldier." Sakura replied sadly. She looked up at Kakashi and he simply gave her his infamous eye smile.

Kakashi read over the pamphlet and realized that it was a four year program. _"Yikes! This is going to complicate everything." _Kakashi thought to himself before talking out loud, "Alright folks, let's head home and celebrate since this will be our last night together for a long while." Everyone nodded in understanding and began trekking back home.

"_Well if Lightning is chasing her dream of becoming a soldier, maybe I should chase my dream also," _Serah thought deeply to herself. The walk back home felt like an eternity to everyone and all were relieved when they finally made it back home.

The celebration was nothing more than a simple get together in the living room. Everyone seemed to be distracted by the upcoming events to actually focus on having fun. So when the party ended, everyone went to their respectable bedrooms to sleep for the night. Naruto and Sasuke headed down to the basement and prepared the rest of their belongings for tomorrows trip.

"Hey Sasuke, what's your reason for joining?" Naruto asked seriously.

Sasuke, hearing the seriousness in his friend's tone, answered back, "I'm joining more or less for the Intel that I could gather while being in this world's army. If there's an answer to why we're here then I'm willing to do anything to get them." Sasuke carefully put the rest of his belonging in his luggage and sat down in his bed prepared to go to sleep when he honestly asked, "What's your reason for joining dobe?"

Naruto, surprised by the question, had to recover momentarily before replying back sheepishly, "Hehe because she's doing it and also to get stronger so I can protect the people precious to me better." Naruto in all honesty would never have joined if not for those two key reasons.

"Your so clueless Naruto. Even you know you can't protect everyone," Sasuke frowned before continuing, "especially since you have **IT** sealed in you." Sasuke was met with uncomfortable silence after stating his thoughts. He peered over at Naruto who was now stone still. Sighing to himself in annoyance for maybe going too far, he said, "Naru-" But he was cut off with a kunai sailing straight past him. From what Sasuke saw and calculated, the kunai was of no real threat.

"I know Sasuke. I know the more powerful you become, the more dangerous you are to other people," Naruto said while clenching his fist until his hand started leaking out blood, "but I made an oath to myself back when we had our first C ranked mission to the Land of Waves that I would never back down from a fight, that I would use my power to protect everyone. Even protect you Sasuke from yourself!" Naruto exclaimed while slowly turning to look at his friend whose face was now unreadable.

"I told you before, it's too late to save me Naruto." Sasuke then turned onto his other side blocking all of Naruto's attention towards him. Naruto shook his head at the repeated thought process from the proud Uchiha.

Naruto looked up and stared at a picture of the Farron sisters and their family. He smiled sadly at the happy picture and began to wonder what it was like to have a real family. _"Jeez, I'm going to miss everyone. Especially Serah, she's been the nicest person I've ever met and I owe her my thanks for all she's done for me." _Yawning, Naruto decided it was time for bed and he soon crawled into his sleeping corner and fell into a restful sleep under his Chocobo blanket.

_**In Naruto's Mindscape**_

"**Foolish boy! I can't even begin to fathom at how pathetic you really are." **The Nine-Tailed Fox grumbled to himself. The Fox could sense ever since entering this new world a familiar presence that he had once felt oh so long ago. It was if the new world radiated a certain... Energy that he was once used to. Alas, it was many years ago that he was in it's presence and with that his knowledge wiped clean of it, both from time and... Someone. The Fox only knew that he might remember what he had lost by following the young boy's life during his lifetime in this strange world. Feeling a wave of sleep washing over him, he growled in anger at the demon's needs for, what he considered to be weak human like characteristic, sleep.

* * *

_**Next Morning At the Train-station**_

Everything was set to go. The luggage and bags were already placed inside the train and only the remaining department time was left for the three people before they left for their four year journey. Naruto was shocked into disbelief that Lightning would in fact be attending an all girl's academy that specialized in female soldiers. The news- it's safe to say- was a major blow to his conviction.

"Lightning, we don't have to join this academy if you don't want to. I can persuade Sasuke not to join either!" Naruto begged to Lightning. But Lightning just smiled sadly at the poor blonde.

"I want this, no, I need this. I must get stronger in order to protect my sister and everyone I care about. And if joining the army is the only way in doing so, then my opinion on whether or not I should join up is irrelevant." Lightning stated to the depressed boy. She couldn't help but to feel a little bit of her die inside from seeing the boy so distraught. The last month of being with Naruto changed a lot about her. She couldn't even explain to him how thankful she was for him showing up in her life. He was able to make her sister, Serah, smile as big as she once did when their parent's were alive. She was in fact a little jealous of Naruto for being able to make her sister that happy.

"Lightning, you do know protecting your sister with physical violence isn't the only way to protect her right?" Naruto asked questioningly. He was trying his hardest to persuade Lightning out of joining the army and all his attempts at doing so had failed miserably.

Grinning at what Naruto was trying to do, Lightning replied blatantly, "But it's the only thing I can do to protect her. It's the only thing I've been good at. Hurting other so that others won't get hurt. That is my way." She studied Naruto's reaction and found it awfully cute when one of his whiskers twitched in annoyance. Naruto knew now she was dead on becoming a soldier and that any arguments about it was pointless. Lightning, sensing him ease a bit, put a hand on the boys cheeks. Both people began to blush a bit at such an intimate touch, especially Naruto who's cheeks began to turn a bright shade of pink. "I'm going to miss seeing your stupidity while I'm in the academy." Lightning told Naruto nonchalantly.

"Haha very funny, and I'm going to miss looking at your bland plastic face Light." Naruto snickered at the reaction of Lightning to that jab and new nickname. But then, Lightning put on a sickly sweet grin and began clutching Naruto's cheeks a little too tight since he was starting to feel pain in his left cheek.

"Naruto, if you ever call me anything insulting again..." She trailed off so Naruto had to lean in to hear better before finishing her sentence, "I will cut that cute face of yours in nine different ways with my nails." Narrowing her eyes, she slowly began scratching his face with her pink polished nails. Naruto gulped and nodded his head in confirmation that he understood her threat.

"_Those two are a bunch of losers." _Sasuke thought to himself while secretly chuckling at those two's weird showing of affection. Sasuke was surprised to hear that morning that neither Kakashi, Sakura, or Serah were escorting them to the train-station to wave them off. They told them it had to do with something about this not being the end or some other cliché sayings and that it was only the beginning.

A horn went off sounding that the trains were soon leaving and for the passengers to to get on the train. Both people sighing, they looked at each other in the eyes for a couple of seconds. But to them it felt like hours. Then, Lightning pulls out a small envelope and hands it to Naruto.

"What's this?" Naruto asked curious as to what was in the envelope.

"Don't open it until you get to the academy. I think it would be only right if you read it there and then." Lightning smirked, knowing that Naruto would want to desperately read it as soon as possible. Naruto groaned at having to wait to open it. But he quickly remembered that he and Sasuke had to leave soon, so he did what he thought was natural for a long good-bye. He snatches Lightning in a huge bear hug and swings her around like she weighs nothing all while cheering and crying about how much he's going to miss her.

Yelping a bit from the unexpected hug, Lightning returned her show of affection by doing what she knew best. Bringing her right arm back to a cocking position, she then released her arm towards the blonde-haired and connected her fist to the boy's jaw.

Back-pedaling from the surprising punch to the jaw, Naruto began rubbing his now bruised jaw and yelled out, "What the hell was that for Lightning?"

Lightning, giggling from the boy's reaction to her show of affection, replied, "That is my good-bye Naruto." Naruto just shook his head in confusion at how weird girls were. With that last sentence Lightning turned her back to the young boy and began running to her train which would take her to the all girl's academy. Naruto just stood there and gazed at the pink-haired beauty before a rude warning broke him out of his stupor.

"Hey dobe! You better get on the train now or your going to miss it!" Sasuke yelled out while quickly jumping into the now slowly moving train.

"_Shit! I gotta hurry now!" _Naruto sprinted towards the entrance to the train and made it just in time before it reached full speed. But Naruto was able to get one last look at Lightning's train before both trains went into different directions. Sighing out loud, Naruto turned around to get a good look at the interior of the train and found that it was rather lavishing for such a public train. He soon saw Sasuke sitting and motioning for Naruto to sit by him in which Naruto was only too happy to comply.

"So did you tell her how you felt about her?" Sasuke asked casually while staring out of the train's window.

"Eh not exactly. We said our good-byes and stuff but- wait a minute why are you talking about me and Lightning that way?" Naruto asked accusingly at Sasuke. But Sasuke simply shrugged, expecting Naruto to come up with an answer if he actually wanted one. "Is-is it that obvious?" Naruto asked quietly. Without even looking back at Naruto, Sasuke nodded at his question. Naruto wondered if anyone else knew. Naruto didn't have anytime to think about it when a light blonde-haired muscular boy walked up next to Naruto's and Sasuke's Train seat.

"Hello there fellow cadets! Mind if I sit by my fellow comrades?" The boy asked with exuberance.

"_Oh no. Not another Naruto clone! Even worse, this one won't disappear if I punch it hard enough." _Sasuke groaned in his head.

"Huh? Fellow cadet? Comrade? Are you also going to the academy?" Naruto asked puzzled by the word choices from his fellow blonde across from him.

"Of course I am! The reason I was able to recognize my future comrades was because you both look like your going to war!" The boy laughed out loud mostly to himself. Naruto looked at himself and then Sasuke and quickly realized that the boy's statement was mostly true. After realizing that bit of information, Naruto couldn't help but to find the statement somewhat funny and began laughing with his fellow blonde.

Sasuke, getting irritated by both boy's foolishness, spoke up from the two boy's laughter, "Leave us alone you crazy kid." Sasuke glared at the boy who suddenly looked hurt from Sasuke's sharp words.

"Aww come on Sasuke! He didn't do anything to deserve that! Can we please let him sit by us please?" Naruto begged using his now modified puppy eyes. Instead of just using his eyes to do all the work, he began to also stroke his whiskers in a sad motion.

Sasuke, being more embarrassed by his friends antics than cuteness, finally relented and allowed the boy to sit by them. Naruto inwardly cheered victory and thanked Serah for helping him make Puppy Eyes 2.0.

Sighing out loud and glaring at the boy across from him, Sasuke asked the now cheerful boy a common question, "What is your name muscle head?" Sasuke said without flickering any emotion with his words.

"Oh I forgot to introduce myself! Sorry for that, my name is Snow, Snow Villiers.

* * *

_**Lightning's Train**_

Lightning was gazing out of her window. She was thinking about the last twelve years of her life. She was thinking about the deaths of both her parents and how sudden it was. She remembered how hard it was to raise her younger sister Serah and to scrape a living by working her ass off working at the library. She thought that nothing could get better until he showed up. She smiled at that thought. _"Who would've thought that brat would have had such a big impact on my life." _Sure, at first she absolutely hated the boy at first glance and even still after he had rescued her sister. But it was that night in the kitchen that she realized that the boy had more to him than what meets the eye. Without even knowing he made her stronger and because of that she felt like she owed that boy something. She would never tell him that directly, but she would make things right and make a proper thank you the next time she saw him. Now her thoughts were on the academy. She had heard stories that the academy was pretty much hell, but that title belonged to Gran Pulse. She shivered at the stories about that place. She heard that it was practically uninhabitable and that only savages and monsters could survive down there. But she was still curious as to why people hated it so much. She believed there might have been a secret surrounding it but dismissed it as paranoia.

"Hi there." A brown-haired girl with green eyes greeted Lightning.

Raising an eyebrow at the formalities, Lightning responded to the joyful girl with a less than enthusiastic response, "Hi."

Frowning at the girl's simple answer she tried again to being friendly by asking another question, "What's your name?"

"Lightning." She replied blandly.

"Oh that's kinda a silly name for someone." The girl thought out loud.

"Don't like it then your more than welcome to leave." Lightning replied dangerously. This girl was starting to get on her nerves.

"Eek! I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that it wasn't a... common name if you know what I mean?" The girl asked hesitantly hoping that her first try at making friends didn't end in her making her first enemy.

"Tsk, what do you want girl?" Lightning was now showing her sudden annoyance at the brown-haired. The girl was seriously pondering whether or not to keep talking to her but decided that she was all-in now.

"I was wondering if I could sit by you?" She asked innocently enough. This was it. If she said yes then that meant that there was still a chance they could be friends. And if she said no... well she would still have zero friends.

Lightning looked around the cabin and noticed plenty of empty seats that the girl could have chosen to sit in. _"Why does she want to sit by me of all people?" _Lightning questioned herself and was lost in thought until the young girl's voice brought her out of her thinking.

"Uh this is the part where you say "Yes, you can sit by me." or "No, I think you're a crazy, self-conscious, low self esteemed, ugly bitch!" The girl listed with unusual calmness in her voice.

Lightning was flabbergast at what the girl had just said. She had no idea how to respond to that other than asking the girl another question," Ar-are you okay?" Lightning asked half-heartily.

"Hahaha that's what everybody say's when I talk to them for a certain amount of time," The girl replied cheerfully even though Lightning could tell it was fake, "if you don't want to talk to me anymore then I'll just leave you." The girl then began to stare down at her feet and waited in gloomy silence.

Lightning rarely ever talked to strangers but here was this girl who would talk to anyone if she could. Both Lightning and her were similar socially except Lightning chose not to talk to people while this girl was rejected by society for talking too much, and for being so strange. "What's your name miss?" Lightning broke the silence with a plain question.

The girl suddenly looked up at Lightning and a huge now forming smile was on her face when she answered back in earnest, "My name is Eve, Eve Eddleton!" She said in a now confident voice.

"Well Eve, if you don't mind sitting by a depressing girl such as me then your more than welcome to sit next to me." Lightning said while nodding her head in confirmation. The young girl practically jumped for joy before sitting across from Lightning. Her long pony-tail was swinging back and forth so rapidly it looked like a dust tornado to Lightning. She was then bombarded with small talk with Eve who seemed to not take a breath in at all from all her talking. _"Maybe this was a terrible decision."_ Lightning thought to herself before finally coming to a conclusion. "Eve. As much as I would love to talk to you all day I would really appreciate it if the rest of the train ride you would just shut up." Lightning had to cringe at her words but she knew they had to be harsh or else this girl would never stop talking. Taking the hint, the girl quickly silenced herself and soon became content with humming to herself, and looking out the window. Lightning quietly sighed to herself and decided that the humming was better than the talking the girl could do, and was soon sucked back into her deep thoughts.

* * *

_**Mysterious Location**_

"Master, I am happy to report that the blond-haired boy and raven-haired boy have been sent off to the academy. They should graduate in four years if my last report was correct." A man said while bowing down to his mysterious master.

"Good work servant. You have further helped set the pieces in motion to my plan to bring peace to Cocoon." The mysterious man replied coldly while sitting on his throne.

"Th-thank you master." The man bowed before vanishing into what appeared to be thin air.

"Soon, in eight years my plans will finally be put into motion. I will be set free and all of mankind will be destroyed! The foolish human's do not know that they are being controlled by a Fal'Cie no less and that since I control the Sanctum I dictate the pathetic human's fate that is guaranteed death and destruction. The destruction of both worlds will begin with the Purge..."

* * *

**There you have it! Chapter 5 is done! I hope you enjoy the story so far and I hope for positive reviews. I love writing but feedback motivates me to write quicker. Until next time ciao!**


	6. Chapter 6 Remembering & Learning

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I own FFXIII. But I'll let you know when I do :)

**Hey, I've updated sooner than usual! Anyways if people are still reading this story than thank you. If not oh well. I'm also changing this Fic's rating to M so then I can have more flexibility with my writing without fear of getting in trouble. This chapter does get dark, but I made it so that you readers could understand why Lightning is who she is from my POV. We are quickly getting to the beginning of the Purge so get excited for that and I hope you enjoy! ;) **

* * *

**Chapter 6 : Learning & Remembering**

It had taken six hours for the train to finally reach the academy, but for Naruto and Sasuke it felt like it had taken sixty hours. During the train ride they had learned more about their fellow blonde buddy, Snow. He told them that he joined this Academy because he wanted to gain the ability to protect everyone he held dear no matter what. This explanation earned him a scowl from Sasuke who only used this information to support his idea of Snow being an exact clone of Naruto. Snow also told them a little bit about his background. His dad was also part of the _**Guardian Corps **_and drew his inspiration from him. That's when Snow's other side appeared. His dad had died during one of his missions, as Snow vaguely recalled it, was an escort mission involving a family and moving them to a safe house. But the mission was jeopardized because of a traitor in his dad's squad who in turn killed everyone (including Snow's father) except, strangely enough, two pink-haired girls. The killer would end up being killed by one of Snow's father friend who had sought the killer out for vengeance. But the mission report that came in from that whole mission was baffling. The killer had been killed as a Cie'th. The report had way too many holes for it to be concrete, but it was the only reliable information they had.

When Naruto and Sasuke listened to this story they couldn't help but to feel a cold chill go down their spine's. Those two surviving girls sounded so much like Lightning and Serah. Even more evidence was the fact that one girl was eight while the other one was six. Before Snow could go further into his personal life the train had abruptly halted to a stop, and everyone in the train knew that they had just arrived at the Academy.

All the boys were herded outside and organized into a single line that stretched all the way from the entrance to the train all the way to the entrance to the academy. The gang had to wait another grueling two hours before they could enter the building and were soon escorted to a nearby classroom. All three of them picked a specific desk to sit so they could all sit side by side to one another. Naruto took this moment of calm to look around the room. If he didn't know that he was in another world he might've mistaken this classroom to be one of the many classrooms in Konoho's Academy. There were a couple of differences though. One, there were at least two hundred boys in this classroom alone. And secondly, the desks themselves were made out of pure iron. Naruto found out the hard way when he accidentally stubbed his toe on one of the legs to the desk. Also, it appeared that each row had three desks side by side to one another. Naruto believed there was a reason for this certain grouping but couldn't figure it out yet. Just then a tall, muscular, menacing man entered the room. He had what looked like to be official _**Guardian Corps **_uniform on and creepy looking cane in his right hand, that he was currently twirling with in his hand.

"Alright ladies listen up good! I don't know what kind of prank my higher-ups are pulling on me but I think I just entered the wrong academy. Last I checked, the all **BOYS **academy didn't include any girls in it," The man said with utter disdain before continuing, "however my job is to make you into men so by the time you graduate, if you graduate, you'll be so masculine that you'll being eating tree bark for breakfast, and dirt for dessert!" All the students just looked on in disbelief at their new teacher. _"Is this guy for real?" _Everyone thought to themselves.

"_Oh no! Why do I have the feeling that this guy and Ibiki would go hand in hand with one another?" _Naruto whimpered to himself. He didn't think this day could get any worse until he felt it. Specifically the vibration in his right pocket that instantly told him that he was dead wrong.

_" **Choco-Choco-Chocobo, Choco-Choco-Choco. **_

_**I Love Me Some Chocobo, Don't You Want Some Also?**_

_**Choco-Choco-Chocobo, Choc-"**_ Naruto had desperately dug into his pant's pocket and had to almost smash the off button on his communication device in order to stop the music. Unfortunately, the damage was done and he received two different reactions from his nearby friends.

Sasuke slammed his head on the desk with his arms over his now shaking head, _"Dammit Naruto!" _This was probably almost more embarrassing than being kissed by him. It was pretty damn freakin close!

Snow however thought differently from Sasuke, "Cool ring-tone bro! Wanna tell me how I can get one of those?" Snow asked while looking over Naruto's shoulder so he could find out the name of the ring-tone. However, the whole class, once again, was stunned by what they just heard and saw.

"Was that a ring-tone cheering about Chocobo's that I just heard?" The man asked with obvious bewilderment. Naruto slowly nodded confirming that yes that was indeed a ring-tone about Chocobo's. "I see. Boy, stand up now!" Naruto deciding on whether or not to stand reluctantly complied. "What is your name you ugly blond-haired whiskered faced brat?" The man demanded.

"Uh Naruto." He squeaked out feeling the entire killer intent flowing straight from the man's eyes to Naruto's soul.

The man slowly looked Naruto up and down and couldn't but help to frown at the young boy. "Since we're here and it's orientation I mind as well talk to you people about the rules on communication devices. There is only one rule dealing with them. There are absolutely no communication devices allowed in this academy while I'm here! Do you punks understand that?" Many students nodded including Naruto who looked like a bobble head whose head looked like it was going to pop off. "Now pass them up before another... accident happens again." The man glared at Naruto who took a large gulp and readily handed up his device. "Now if anyone is caught using any communication devices..." The man trailed off while making the boys lean in to hear the man clearer, "you will be expelled right there and then!" Seeing that his audience appeared to get the message he moved on. "Now I know most of you hopefuls entered this academy by yourselves, but I'm happy to inform you that you will graduate this academy with two other graduates. Yes, the reason for this seating arrangement is for you children to unknowingly assign your own group of three." Naruto, Sasuke, and Snow smirked at one another since they knew they would be grouped up with people they knew, or at least were acquainted with. "Of course there is a catch. When I said earlier that you would graduate with your teammates I meant it down to the last meaning. You see, there might be some students who believe they are better than everyone else and go solo. Let me tell from experience that those people are usually the one's who get killed first. So your all thinking right now, "How does this real world implication have to deal with me graduating?" The man chuckled to himself like he had just told a really funny joke to himself. "Well my short-sighted students, what this means for you boys is that if even one of you fails the academy, either by grades or breaking any rules, you **ALL **fail together!" Everyone was shocked to hear this strict rule. They had heard before hand that usually only two out of three people actually graduated the academy. This rule pretty much guaranteed that everyone would fail no matter what.

"What the hell old man? Your rules are impossible, there are no real reasons for implementing these ridiculous terms!" A boy shouted out and was met room full of murmurs of agreement.

But the man only smirked at the boys words. "Well I guess you should just save yourself the trouble and just quit. Of course, two other students would have to forcibly quit because of your "Noble" actions." The room fell into a tense silence for about ten minutes before, out of nowhere, groups of teachers began escorting students out of the classroom and into their dorms that they would be living in for four years. Naruto was surprised however when the mysterious man pulled him aside just when he was about to exit the classroom. "Hey boy, what did you say your name was?"

Confused by the question, Naruto answered back blankly, "Naruto." He then watched the man nod his head in affirmation that he got his name and simply shrugged his shoulder and walked outside of the classroom.

The man stood around for a couple of seconds watching the blond-haired boy slowly walk away from his classroom. "That kid should make things interesting..." The man thought to himself with a small grin forming on his face before he himself exited his classroom.

Naruto met up with his friends in their dorms and was shocked at how small their room was. There were three small beds lined up next to one another while in front of them was a small dresser. There was another room but he guessed that it was just a small bathroom. Sighing to himself, Naruto unloaded his luggage and began tidying up the room with his fellow bunk-mates. "So Naruto, seriously will you tell me where you got that ring-tone?" Snow begged.

"Actually I found that ring-tone from a close friend of mine. She had it on her phone and I couldn't help but to want it on mine too." Naruto answered back. Serah always did have a soft spot for Chocobo's and that rubbed off on Naruto also.

"Ah, I see. Well, I guess I should find my own ring-tone since it's owned by more than one person." Snow grinned. "Hey Naruto, wanna play-"

"No, we are definitely not doing that again right now or ever!" Sasuke irritatedly interrupted the two blondes. During the whole train ride all they played was "**I Spy"** and the only thing they "spied" was Sasuke's "duckass" hair. "Let's just go to sleep and be done with today already!" Sasuke spat out while getting under his covers. Both blondes just stuck their tongues out at the raven-haired boy but quickly began to feel the feeling of sleep wash over them. And soon all three boys were out cold in their comfortable beds. It has to be said though that the students sleeping in their bedrooms, that were near the three boy's, had a very difficult time falling asleep because of the combined noise of two rambunctious boys snoring obnoxiously in their sleep. Sasuke smirked a little in his sleep because he was used to Naruto's snoring and could fall asleep at will around him.

* * *

"**Wake up boy!" **A dark voice cried out abruptly waking a very nervous boy out of his slumber.

"Ah dammit! What do you want Fox?" Naruto cried out in annoyance. Man this whole telepathic connection was getting on this boy's nerves.

"**There's something we must discuss-" **

"Bla bla bla! Can we talk about this when I'm more awa-" Naruto soon felt a strange pain on his cheek and reached up and began rubbing his now puffy cheek that had just been slapped.

"**Baka! Shut up and listen because the next time I slap you it will be with a balled fist!" **Kyuubi yelled out while slowly rising up onto his four legs while making Naruto nod his head quickly and realizing he was now wide awake. He also noticed he was inside the Fox's cage! The Kyuubi noticed this and spoke up, **"Relax, I can't eat you since that damn seal is still on. Well, I can't kill you if that's what your worried about. I can still beat you up without using any Chakra though." **He grinned at the boys sudden mood change. **"But back to why I woke your noisy ass up. I didn't wake you up so I could chat with you or even bully you, "**_I could do that later." _He thought sinisterly to himself, **no I woke you up because I believe it's about time we came to an arrangement." **The Fox stated blandly.

Naruto puzzled to what the Fox had just told him replied back cautiously, "What kind of arrangement?"

The Fox grinned widely and looked Naruto deep into his eyes that made Naruto suddenly feel really uncomfortable. **"I'll let you use three tails of my Chakra whenever and if ever you need it."**

Naruto's ears perked up from hearing that he would be getting stronger now that he had access to some of the Fox's Chakra but was still hesitant when he questioned back, "And the catch?"

The Fox simply shrugged and turned his head away from the young boy and began staring off into the darkness when he spoke, **"Nothing too much, I just need you to tear off a little corner of the "Seal". **Naruto wide eyed at what the Fox was asking. Anything dealing with the "Seal" was usually an automatic no but Naruto was curious of why the Fox only wanted a tiny corner torn off.

"Why do you want such a small piece of the "Seal" torn off? Why not just order me to tear it all of?" Naruto asked cautiously.

The Fox looked back at the boy and had a sudden gleam in his eyes, **"Well as much as I would want you to tear the whole seal off, you wouldn't even think about doing so even though you hardly think at all," **The Fox ignored Naruto complaints about his intelligence and continued**, "no by tearing a small piece I am able to give you a small amount of my Chakra at will without the accursed "Seal" messing with my control, and in return I have all access to your senses. You could say it is the beginning of... an immersion of both consciousness merging with one another." **Kyuubi smirked at the now thinking Naruto

"_Well from what I heard it simply means he would have more freedom in my body but I would still be the one in control. I guess it's only fitting that since I would be burrowing his powers he should be able to burrow some of my abilities. Seems safe enough." _Naruto thought to himself before looking up at the now patiently waiting Nine-Tailed Fox. "Alright, you got a deal!" With that Naruto strolled over to the "Seal" and carefully tore off a small corner of it off. Instantly, he felt a sudden rush of energy coursing through his body and he felt like he was ten times stronger than before.

Kyuubi smirked at the now amazed Naruto and couldn't help to feel a little... human from what he saw. Shaking away his thoughts, he spoke up, **"Now that we have that settled with, you may leave my domain now." **He said while narrowing his eyes at Naruto. Naruto quickly understood that the Fox wanted him to get out of his mind and so he quickly cut off the connection.

The Fox breathed a sigh of relief when Naruto left. **"One step closer to totally taking over that stupid boy." **The Fox smiled to himself while nestling down in his cage.

* * *

The next morning, the three boys were in for a rude awakening when they were pulled out of their respective beds and thrown out into the hallway. They barely had enough time to get their clothes on before a teacher led them to a classroom. Oddly enough, it appeared to be the same classroom they were in the day before. Their suspicions were answered when the same man from before walked into the classroom.

"Ah the first day of class. When our mind's are the fragilest, and our body at their weakest," The man snorted out before glancing back at the whiteboard behind him, "today we are learning the basics, well you boys are, and first things first." The man stopped before scanning the room. His gaze stopped on Naruto's group and stayed there for an uncomfortable amount of time before speaking up, "You three, what are your names?" The man demanded.

Snow being the closest to the man stood up, "I'm Snow Villiers." And then sat back down before Sasuke also stood up.

"Hn, I'm Sasuke Uchiha." He said emotionless before also sitting down.

Next Naruto was up and unlike his fellow friends he jumped up out of his seat, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki and my team will best one here, believe it!" He received several glares from the surrounding students. Sasuke guessed that one of the reasons they hated his group was because of the lack of sleep they received from last night that was due to them causing it.

_"What a swell group of characters." _The man snorted.

The man asked around the room for each boys name until he finally heard every boy tell him his name. "Alright, my name is Roko Oberano and I am the head drill sergeant for this Academy. Now that we've got our greetings out of the way let us get to today's first lesson which is on... Combat 101!"

"_Hell yes! First day of learning and we're already learning how to fight!" _Naruto thought to himself proudly before Roko shattered his amusement.

"In front of you is plain black book that you should see at the top right corner of your desk. You will open that book to A-10 and read **EVERYTHING **until page B-25." Roko commanded to his students.

Naruto suddenly felt sick to his stomach, _"Crap I'm lousy at paper work and reading!" _Naruto cried in his head. He looked to his right and saw that Snow also was having difficulties with the assignment. Meanwhile Sasuke began to casually look over the pages and it almost seemed as if Sasuke was enjoying his read. Looking back to his own book, Naruto sighed in defeat and opened it to page A-10 and tried his hardest to understand the text.

"_Dang this is nothing like I expected that we would be doing at the Academy. Where's all the actual combat? Hell, where's the mistress in distress?" _Snow grimaced to himself while looking at his reading. He quickly looked around the room and saw that Roko was busy talking to a student. Snow looked over at Sasuke and found that he was already scribbling down notes. Seeing a perfect opportunity to get some information, Snow leaned over Sasuke and whispered, "Can you please let me copy your notes Sasuke?" He asked. Sasuke stopped his writing and looked at the blond-hair. He suddenly felt another blond-hair look over his shoulder and he knew that he had to help them both.

"Ugh fine. But don't make this a habit. You both still need to actually learn this stuff so when we get back to the dorm you guys need to study your asses off okay?" Sasuke asked quietly.

"Yeah, sure whatever you say Sasugay." Naruto replied while copying Sasuke's notes. Sasuke just ended up groaning from the two blond-haired boys stupidity.

"_I see that group understands the meaning of teamwork. Even if it is a bit one-sided." _Roko grinned to himself before walking back up to the front of the class. "Okay ladies, it's time to see if you were able to find any important information and most importantly define it." Roko glanced around the room before settling on his first victim. "You, the raven-haired boy," He pointed out towards Sasuke who only raised an eyebrow at being called out, "what are the five main roles for a soldier?" He asked patiently.

Naruto began sweating because he had no idea what the five roles were. But Sasuke simply smirked at the man and confidently answered back, "That's easy, they are: The Commando, The Ravager, The Medic, The Synergist, and lastly the Saboteur." Impressed by how accurate Sasuke was, Roko nodded his head in confirmation that the boy did indeed get the answer correct.

Now Roko turned his head sharply towards Naruto and made a huge grin appear on his face.

"_Oh shit he's going to pick me! What do I do? Wait, I have Sasuke's notes! I've got this, just believe Naruto, believe dammit!" _Naruto argued mentally with himself until he heard his name called.

"Naruto, what are the specifics for each role?" Roko asked while laughing loudly inside from asking such a tough question to a very stupid boy.

"Uh hold on a sec." Naruto said weakly before diving into his copied notes. It took him about five long minutes before the man coughed out loudly indicating that he was done waiting. "Eh right then, umm the Commando Role is meant to deal the most damage and uh acts as the main damage dealer," Naruto quickly looked at Sasuke who subtly nodded his head showing that he was somewhat correct so far, "the Ravager is used to build up a stagger against the enemy I think, the Medic's job is to heal fellow soldiers, and umm crap uh the Synergist ...buffs up his fellow comrades, and the Saboteur is the opposite in which he debuffs?" Naruto had to let out a large breath of air out from scrambling around with his words and inadvertently holding in his breath while talking.

Roko meanwhile just shook his head and said, "If I were you I wouldn't rely too much on my friends notes all the time because there maybe a time when they need your help. Anyways, you are correct." Roko soon went around the room asking other students about what they read in their readings. The class finally ended and the three boys were ushered out to their other classes.

Naruto crashed onto his bed in utter exhaustion. Today was probably the worst day he had ever had. All he did in each of his nine classes involved either paper work or reading. Snow felt the same way when he too fell onto his bed in utter exhaustion. If this was all they did everyday for the next four years of their Academy live, then both he and Snow would definitely fail. It was only because of Sasuke that they were able to even remotely understand what they were learning. But Naruto had to admit he understood enemy recognition pretty well because he was the only person to recognize the difference between a regular Behemoth and a Greater Behemoth. Sighing to himself he looked up at the now entering Sasuke who looked completely fresh and confident.

"Naruto, what did I tell you early. Why aren't you and Snow not studying right now?" Sasuke asked calmly.

"Give us a break teme. We'll get to it when we feel like it." Naruto replied before feeling two sharp eyes piercing through him.

"If you want to continue copying my notes I suggest you start studying now and every night." Sasuke threatened while narrowing his eyes.

Both boys looked at one another and grimaced at the fact that they knew they had to study or else risk failing and Naruto was not willing to fail. No, he promised himself and Lightning that he would go through with this and graduate. He sighed to himself again while asking himself what Lightning was doing right about now.

* * *

Lightning softly sneezed while laying down in her bed. _"Dang it, someone's probably talking about me." _She couldn't help but to suspect that it was Naruto talking about her. She smiled a bit from that assumption. Yes, that boy could never keep his mouth shut but at least when he talked it was somewhat enjoyable unlike blabber mouth over here. Lightning glanced to the left of herself and spotted Eve sleeping restfully. Lightning had to deal with that girls non-stop chatter box the whole entire day including when she was eating! Only when she fell asleep did she stop talking, at least in reality. Lightning wasn't so sure if she stopped talking in her dreams and she definitely didn't want to find out. They were now officially teammates and to be honest she was liking the girl a little more and more. But Lightning couldn't sleep right now. She couldn't believe that she was at the Academy. She was one step closer to her dreams of becoming a soldier. Only then did she believe that she could protect Serah effectively. Rolling over on her bed sheets, she couldn't help but to remember that night.

* * *

_**Flashback**_

_**It was a cold rainy night. Four people could be seen sprinting through the pouring rain. They were running like death was upon them, and that if they slowed down they would be killed. **_

"_**Honey, where are they?" The older woman asked to the equally old man. The man stopped abruptly to listen and heard nothing.**_

"_**Your right there gone! I can't hear any footsteps behind us." The man said nervously. There was four other men following them but slowly it had gotten quieter behind them. **_

"_**Mommy I want to go home now!" A eight year old girl cried to the older woman who was apparently her mother.**_

"_**Shhh it's okay we're going home right now." The mother replied reassuringly before her other child began crying out loud.**_

"_**But mom our house is in the opposite direction!" The young eight year old responded back. **_

"_**Okay, mommies gonna take care of you guys for a little bit. I'm going back to see what happened to our escort." The man said before kissing all his family members on their cheeks before vanishing into the mist.**_

"_**Dadda, where is dadda going?" The six year old asked innocently.**_

"_**He's going to check on those nice men we met earlier today to see if they are okay."**_

"_**Is dadda goin to come back?" The mother spontaneously began to cry. She knew what was going to happen and that it was the last good-bye her husband gave to them. She quickly put her head down and grabbed each of her daughters hand and led them away from where their father had just left them. Moments later, they could hear a death splitting scream reverberate throughout the quiet night. The mom only quickened her pace desperately trying to reach the safe house until she saw him. He was leaning casually against a lamp post while playing with a strange knife in his hand. The mom abruptly stopped and instinctively pulled her children behind her for protection.**_

"_**Whatever you want leave my children out of this." The mom begged to the stranger. **_

_**But he only chuckled before responding back in a deep menacing tone, "Ah but it's not the children I was ordered to kill, it was you. You know too much to be allowed to live." The man began to slowly walk towards the woman.**_

"_**Mom, what is he talking about?" A very scared Lightning asked while cowering behind her mother.**_

"_**Listen to me Claire, I want you and your sister to close your eyes and don't open them until you can't hear anything for the next five minutes. You-" She was going to be interrupted by Claire before hushing her to listen, "you have to promise me that you will look after your baby sister? Do you hear me? I want you to act like the big sister you are and protect her." The mom asked frantically while Claire was being choked by tears and sadness. "Claire, you have to be strong, be strong for Serah, most importantly be strong for yourself." With that the mom kissed each of her children on the forehead before also slowly walking towards the man. **_

_**Remembering what her mother told her to do, she closed both her's and Serah's eyes and prepared herself for what was about to happen. But curious, Lightning couldn't help keep her eyes closed and snuck a quick peek. Even so, it was enough time for her to see her mother brutally murdered. She saw the man pull her mother so that her backside was facing him and her face was facing theirs.**_

"_**Any last words?" The man asked indifferent. The woman merely shook her head, she had said all she had needed too to Claire. And with that, Claire saw the man slit her mother's throat and watched as her mother fell to the ground. Not caring about her own safety, she rushed forward to save her mother only to feel her mother's pulse a couple of seconds later deadline. **_

_**Lightning lost it, she lunged at the man who killed her parents and ruined her family with the intent to kill. But the man simply side-stepped her and slapped her down. Lightning, from both pain and shock, could not move. She was now eye to eye with her now lifeless mother. She however found it strange that her mom appeared to have died with a smile on her face. Remembering where she was, she looked back up at the now leaving man and cried out, "Who are you?" **_

_**The man halted for a brief second before answering back casually, "I am not of this world." And then he vanished into what looked like to be thin air. Lightning replayed that whole scene in her head over and over until she keyed on a certain sentence from her mom.**_

"_**Claire, you have to be strong, be strong for Serah." "Serah" Lightning gasped out. She had totally forgotten about her. She turned her head quickly and spotted Serah with both her hands over her eyes and still counting...**_

_**End of Flashback**_

Lightning finally felt the familiar feeling of sleep begin to wash over her. Yes, she was going to give it her all for the next four years until she graduated. "I promise you mom. I will avenge you and dad. No matter what. I vow to kill that man and bring back happiness to Serah. That, is my focus...

* * *

**The man who was accused of killing the Farron's parents before was, in fact, not the real man. Anyways, give me any helpful/positive reviews so that I can both become a better writer, and be more motivated to keep working on this! Also, I have not forgotten about a certain Uchiha. He does play an integral role in this Fic and you'll only find out what if you keep reading. Until next time ciao!**

**Next Chapter- ****Chapter 7 : A Shrouded Path**


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